Happy Shamrock Day ~ Irish Soda Bread Biscuits

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I’m not even a wee bit Irish, but I always have fun celebrating this holiday. We really enjoyed the Irish soda bread muffins I made last year, so this year I decided to try another spin on the same idea. I baked Irish soda bread biscuits. 🙂 I went an extra step and cut them out with a shamrock cookie cutter. What could be more festive that? 🙂

Irish Soda Bread Biscuits

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup Earth Balance

1/2 cup dried currants

1/2 cup low fat buttermilk

1 egg

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. With a fork or pastry blender, cut in the Earth Balance. Stir in the currants and caraway.

Mix the egg and buttermilk in a separate bowl, and then combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.

On a floured surface, shape the dough into a ball. It is a sticky and wet dough, so use as much all-purpose flour as you need on your hands and the bench to pull it together into a cohesive dough ball. Roll the dough so it is about ½ inch thick. Cut with a cookie cutter or a knife. Transfer biscuits to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

I also baked a batch of the soda bread muffins that I wrote about last year. They freeze well, so our freezer is now stocked! Just microwave for 30 seconds for a warm, fresh muffin in the morning.

The cute little printable flags are from Elli.com. They are free to download and print for your St. Patrick’s Day celebration. 🙂