Sweet Irish Soda Bread Cookies

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Recipe summary

Soda bread is Ireland’s national bread, well suited to sopping up lamb stew. A little sugar transforms bread into cookies. Sure and begorrah, it’s a St. Paddy’s day miracle!

Recipe Courtesy of Signe Langford.

Preparation time:
Cooking time: 14 minutes
Yield: 36

Ingredients

Sweet Irish Soda Bread Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup dried currants – soaked in warm apple juice, scotch or whiskey
1/4 cup chopped green maraschino cherries
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt

Green hard Icing

1 cup icing sugar
3 teaspoons milk
3 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon maple or vanilla extract
a few drops green food colouring

Directions

Sweet Irish Soda Bread Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Drain and mix in currants and cherries.
Mix in beaten egg. Pour in milk and molasses and mix with a fork to make a soft dough. If too dry, add a few drops of milk until it all comes together.
On a floured surface, shape dough into a ball and knead lightly 5 or 6 times. Roll out dough to ¼ inch thick and cut into desired shapes – of course we suggest a shamrock if possible!
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until slightly browned. Transfer to cooling racks and let cool completely before icing. If you don’t want to ice, no worries, sprinkle with a little green course sugar before baking.
Tip: the cherries and currants can add quite a bit of moisture to the dough – drain well!

Green hard Icing

In a small bowl, stir together icing and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and maple or vanilla extract until icing is totally smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add a little more corn syrup, a drop at a time, mixing in well between each addition. If you want to make different shades of green, divide the white icing into separate bowls, and add green food colouring to each to reach the desired shade.
Tip: visit your local bulk or candy shop for fun shamrock or green candies and chunky green sugar to decorate with.