Ya Gotta Ask Yourself One Question This St. Patty's Day, Do I Feel Lucky?

It's your lucky day, there is a new recipe!  And in my opinion, it's a good one, too! :)  As you probably know, this Thursday is St. Patrick's day, and while I am not Catholic, I am (at least partially) Irish, so I will be celebrating anyway.  Don't worry, whether you personally are Irish or not is irrelevant, everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's day, and (ok, almost) everyone will like this recipe! 

I wish I knew more Irish recipes, but unfortunately I only know one.  Luckily for you, it's a recipe for Irish soda bread, a delicious pastry that is great any time of year.  I don't know that traditional Irish cooking is very vegan-friendly, but this is one recipe easily translates into a vegan version that is indistinguishable from it's traditional counterpart. 

You will need:

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup unbleached flour
5 tablespoons vegan white sugar, divided

1 tbs brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons earth balance
1 cup almond milk with 1 tbs white vinegar mixed in
1/3 cup brown raisins
1/3 cup golden raisins

Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 8-inch-diameter cake pan. Combine flour, 4 tablespoons white sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in large bowl. Add earth balance in chunks, heat briefly for 20 seconds in microwave. Rub in earth balance until coarse mixture forms. Make a divot in the center of your flour mixture. Pour in almond milk/vinegar mixture. Gradually stir dry ingredients into milk to blend with a rubber spatula. Mix in raisins.

Pour dough into prepared pan and flatten slightly. Sprinkle dough with remaining 1 tbs white sugar, 1 tbs brown sugar and a light dusting of cinnamon.

Your mixture should look like this:

Bake bread until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. This should be about 40 minutes. Cool bread in pan 10 minutes.  If desired, melt a little earth balance in the microwave and brush onto the surface of the bread with a pastry brush. This bread is best served warm with earth balance spread on top. 

When done it should look like this:

Irish soda bread is somewhere between a raisin bread and a scone.  Some are dry, but this one is a moister version than many.  This makes it ideal to eat warmed up with some earth balance, and it also doesn't hurt to make a steaming mug of decaf with french vanilla soy creamer to go with it for the perfect evening snack.

So, try your hand at making some Irish Soda Bread this Thursday, and ask yourself one question: Do you feel lucky?  Well, do ya, punk?  If you make this recipe, I don't see how you couldn't be!  Happy eating, and happy St. Patrick's Day! :)