Irish Soda Bread Buns

The sun coming through the morning fog

In celebration of St. Patricks Day I made Irish Soda Bread Buns to go along with the corned beef I had simmering all day in the crock pot.

4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup raisins
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 Tbs. butter, melted

Combine first 5 ingredients. Stir in buttermilk just until dough forms; knead 6 times.  Shape into 12 balls, cut X on top of each ball.  Place on baking sheet, brush with butter.  Cook 375^ for 12 minutes.

I made the X's on the tops, but it didn't make a difference.  Also, they don't look very round.

Here is the finished result.  They tasted like a biscuit with raisins, which my son picked out of his.

Oh well, the corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and onions were great.  Happy St. Patty's Day to yah.

Smoky Mountain Bar-b-que

It's a cold, gloomy, rainy day.  What better time to meet the Active Adults at Smoky Mountain Bar-b-que for lunch!  About 15 of us met this afternoon for our monthly meeting.  The restaurant has cafeteria style dining with a full range of bar-b-que favorites, such as pulled pork, hush puppies, fried chicken and fish. The restaurants' motto is "We will serve no swine before its time".  I opted for the salad with grilled chicken and an unsweetened ice tea to drink.  Most everyone else had fried goodies.

I got to sit next to the new pastor.  Pastor Tim is a young fellow with five children.  His wife home schools them.  He is one of the nicest guys and is really trying to meet everyone and fit in.  He came from a town in North Carolina that was even smaller than Jefferson.  He told a story about going out to visit members of his congregation where he had to drive through creek beds to get there.  As he would pass homes, people would come out on their front porch with shot guns and just stand there as he drove by.  Then they would run in and start calling their neighbors so by the time he pulled up to the home he was visiting, the homeowners would be waiting outside for him.

Next month we are going to tour the quilt barns in the area and I am really looking forward to that.

Caramel pecan cookies

The other night hubby and I were watching a show on the Food Network about bakeries.  One bakery made caramel pecan cookies.  I thought that sounded yummy and I decided to give them a try.  Since Nestle doesn't make caramel bits any more I ordered them online along with the pecans.  I used the recipe from the back of a bag of Ghirardelli chocolate chips and replaced the flour with cake flour and the chips for the caramel bits and increased the proportion of brown sugar to white sugar.

2 1/4 cups cake flour        
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda              
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt                          
2 cups caramel bits
1 1/4 cups brown sugar      
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup sugar

Stir flour with baking soda and salt.  Beat butter with sugars until creamy.  Add vanilla and eggs one at a time.  Gradually add dry ingredients until mixed.  Add bits and nuts.  Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 350^ for 13 minutes or browned.

The finished cookie is chewy and gooey.  The bits sunk to the bottom of the cookie.  Next time I will toss the bits in a little flour and that should take care of that problem.  All in all, I would have to say it was a success!