an irish farmhouse cookbook by mary kinsella.

i ran across mary kinsella's an irish farmhouse cookbook at work one day while shelving in the cooking section. at the time, i'd been trying to find a simple, yet authentic way to make irish stew. i have one other irish cookbook, although it is a book that a restaurant in dublin released, and it's a little too gourmet for things like irish stew. :) there are no photographs in mary kinsella's book, and it is also out of print. you can find it on amazon used for pretty cheap here.

last night, i baked up a frenzy with the traditional scone recipe. i substituted maple syrup for golden syrup and by the third batch had kind of gotten on a roll and was adding all sorts of things... cinnamon, bran, sugar... they're none-too-sweet, except for the light sugar dusting on one batch, and the craisins in another batch add a real tangy sweetness that's amazing. this morning i made myself some irish tea (with milk, of course) and had one of the maple-cinnamon scones. super yum.

IRISH BREAKFAST SCONES

ingredients:

1/2 cups flour (-- heaping, probably.)
pinch of salt
1/3 cup wholemeal flour (-- i used bob's red mill unprocessed whole wheat pastry flour)
1 1/2 tbsp butter or margarine
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp golden syrup (-- i used maple)
1 pint or 5/8 cup milk
3/4 cup bran (optional)

prep time: 10 minutes
cooking time: 20-25 minutes
oven position: top
oven temp: gas 6, 200C, 400F

method:

1. sieve flour and salt into a bowl, add wholemeal flour and bran if used.

2. put in the margarine or butter, add the baking powder, mix ingredients well together.

3. add the syrup and enough milk to mix to a loose dough. add extra milk if bran is used.

4. turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. roll out, cut the dough in half, then into quaters and then into eighths.

5. place on the lightly floured baking sheet and place in the oven.

6. when baked, set out on a wire rack to cool.


using this basic recipe, there are so many different things one can add. and what was great was that each batch only made eight scones, so they were perfect for sitting down and sharing right away. i made three batches altogether: maple-cinnamon, maple bran, and craisin. but i'm taking them to work this afternoon to give away to hungry booksellers! below are the maple-cinnamon scones which were the last, and sweetest of the bunch. i brushed them with maple syrup and sprinkled sugar on top of that while they were still warm. and they're super yummy warmed back up. like semi-sweet baked doughnuts. mm.