Winter = Baking

I woke up to the sounds of a snow plow.  Weird.  I didn't think we were expecting more than an inch of snow.

Scene from our balcony this morning.

(all personal pics in this post)

And, while the idea of wedding crafts briefly flitted through my mind (clay flowers and die cutting invitations anyone?), I quickly settled on the idea of making Irish Soda Bread.  I was trying to explain it to my supervisor at work yesterday and couldn't quite do it justice...  There is a great bakery (The Italian Bread Place) near my mom's in Greentree where they make amazing soda bread, but that's too far for a snowy morning drive (and, they don't always have it made). 

So, I searched through several of my cookbooks and the interwebs...  Eventually, I settled on this recipe from radmegan.  I'm not going to copy the recipe here, I'll just note the changes I made:

First, I don't usually have buttermilk on hand unless I'm planning on making something specific that calls for it.  So, as I've done in the past, I mixed plain milk with a teaspoon of lemon juice before starting any other recipe related tasks.  It would also work with vinegar...  Mostly, you're looking for some tang and some acid that will interact with the baking soda.

Secondly, I replaced one half cup of the raisins with chopped dried apricots.  They are one of my favorite dried fruits and I thought they'd make a nice substitution.

Finally, I made smaller scone shapes instead of baking the whole recipe as a single loaf.

With all that being said, Irish Soda Bread is super easy to make.  Here are the steps:

whisk the dry ingredients together

add the cubes of butter and work into the flour (I used my hands for this)

stir in the raisins and/or dried fruit pieces

pour the wet ingredients into a well made in the flour mix

stir till mostly combined

turn onto a floured surface and work into a mass of dough

split dough into two circles; cut into four triangle pieces; 

place on floured baking sheet or silpat mat

bake for about 20 minutes 

or until they brown slightly and sound hollow when tapped

Next time, I'd add a bit more sugar and maybe sprinkle some raw sugar on the tops.  Also, I'd probably make the pieces a bit smaller, maybe even half of what I did this time.  This is more for my own portion control than anything...  They are good enough that eating a whole scone shaped piece wasn't difficult.  Also, while I didn't add any, I think these would be great with some jam or butter (especially right out of the oven).

Now, I try to motivate myself to exercise and craft...  Not sure in what order.

Do you have any favorite ways to procrastinate?