Sassy Priscilla's Craft and Life Journal

St. Patrick's Day Scones - Repost

First blogged about here.

I made my favorite recipes for scones for our St. Patrick's Day celebration. I don't know if scones are Irish fare but I don't care!  I got this recipe last year from the Elmwood Inn website. Everyone really enjoys them and they can be made without sugar for those who would prefer a recipe without. My notes are in brackets.

Elmwood Inn Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons unsalted cold butter
1/2 cup currants or white raisins [1 cup Hershey's Cinnamon Chips]
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tablespoon cream
1 tablespoon  [sugar pearls]

Preheat the oven to 400º F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and soda. With a pastry blender, cut in butter, mixing it until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in currants [cinnamon chips].

Whisk buttermilk and egg together, then add to flour mixture. Stir together until a soft ball of dough forms. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently, turning five or six times.

Roll out dough with a floured rolling pin to about 1/2 inch thickness. Using a heart-shaped [clover] cookie cutter, cut scones out and place on the baking sheet. Brush the tops lightly with cream and sprinkle with sugar [sugar pearls - I sometimes use cinnamon and sugar].

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light brown. Serve warm with lemon curd, clotted cream, or preserves. Makes one dozen scones.

Time Saving Hint: Raw scones may be frozen and then baked fresh as you need them.

[end recipe]

See my Scones photo album for more photos including who helped, who didn't and a surprise guest!

For St. Patrick's Day - Irish Soda Bread - Tredux

First blogged about here.

Doesn't this look fabulous? It was! Very dense and moist with a great crust. This recipe is from A Little Irish Cookbook from Appletree Press.  This recipe is a keeper! I've added my comments with brackets.

Soda Bread

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar (optional) [not optional]
2 cups buttermilk or sour milk [buttermilk]

Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough [I used about 1 3/4 cups]. Now work quickly as the buttermilk and soda are already reacting. Knead the dough lightly - too much handling will toughen it, while too little means it won't rise properly.

Form a round loaf about as thick as your fist [if your fist is as big as the jolly green giants--this was about the size of 4 of my fists]. Place it on a lightly-floured baking sheet and cut a cross in the top with a floured knife. Put at once to bake near the top of a pre-heated oven, 450°F, for 30-45 minutes [30 minutes]. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Wrap immediately in a clean tea-towel to stop the crust hardening too much.

Doesn't this look fabulous? It was! Very dense and moist with a great crust. This recipe is from A Little Irish Cookbook from Appletree Press.  This recipe is a keeper! I've added my comments with brackets.

Soda Bread

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar (optional) [not optional]
2 cups buttermilk or sour milk [buttermilk]

Sieve the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Scoop up handfuls and allow to drop back into the bowl to aerate the mixture. Add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough [I used about 1 3/4 cups]. Now work quickly as the buttermilk and soda are already reacting. Knead the dough lightly - too much handling will toughen it, while too little means it won't rise properly.

Form a round loaf about as thick as your fist [if your fist is as big as the jolly green giants--this was about the size of 4 of my fists]. Place it on a lightly-floured baking sheet and cut a cross in the top with a floured knife. Put at once to bake near the top of a pre-heated oven, 450°F, for 30-45 minutes [30 minutes]. When baked, the loaf will sound hollow when rapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Wrap immediately in a clean tea-towel to stop the crust hardening too much.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Holy smokes was I surprised by these little crocuses. They certainly added to the excitement of the unseasonably warm weather we are having! Today it is supposed to be 70 F!!!

So, all plans for an Irish meal have been thrown out and we are having brats on the grill with our friend Betsy. I may sneak in some Irish Soda Bread, though. Perhaps some scones if there is time.

The leprechaun trap worked in the sense that he dropped some of his gold but we didn't nab him. In fact, he played a trick and changed his gold into gold foil wrapped chocolate!

Rainy Day Muffins

Sorry about the lousy picture. It really is a rainy day so that accounts for the lousiness of it. However, I am not unhappy to have a rainy day. It isn't a snowy, thank goodness, and I can't help but love that it is washing away residual snow, salt, and grime and maybe Spring really is coming. Spring is my very favorite time of year! So much hope, such vivid colors, fresh smells, tulips, daffodils, robins...

So on a rainy, cold Wisconsin day, what could be better than a warm breakfast? With a little help from Midwest Living's Mix and Match Muffin recipe, I came up with this concoction. If you don't have whole wheat flour, don't sweat it. Just use 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour. Don't want oatmeal? Just use 2 cups all purpose flour. Buttermilk not in your kitchen? Just substitute an equal amount of milk. Have fun making muffins to suit your taste!

The recipe is how I made it but In brackets, I have put possible substitutions.

How to Sew a Mail Carrier Bag

Today I made my little cowboy a mail carrier bag. We went to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum last month and Aidan got a kick out of mail sorting and delivering.

For the last month, I've been saving return envelopes I've received in the mail for us to repurpose. I also spent a little time researching how to make this bag. I finally found a tutorial that I based my bag creation on at Craftster. I used fabric from my stash - I think it is Robert Kaufman and it is a lightweight corduroy.

I took pictures and notes along the way as well as measurements for this particular bag. If anyone is interested in a tutorial, please let me know and I'll put one up. This was fun and sewed up quick once I had the measurements.

Happy Birthday Daniel Craig

On a glorious March 2 in 1968, the ground shook, the angels sang and wept, the heavens parted and Daniel Wroughton Craig was born.

I swear I don't keep track of his birthday. Really!!! This time, I was reminded by Carmen. Carmen is a DC fan that thinks I have a direct line to Daniel. Oh Carmen, I really understand your need to connect to Daniel. I also really wish I could get your birthday greeting through personally.

Anyway, here is Daniel looking almost like he did the day he was born. I know I've used the mankini picture before but what a picture!