Soda Bread Breakfast Rolls and Honey Peanut Butter

Well, I'm about halfway through spring break with the kiddos...  Rye comes home from her dad's tonight, so it's been a little easier than usual with only two kids home so far.  We'll see how tomorrow goes...  haha.

I guess I've gotten a lot done this week so far.  I spent Monday canning and got a total of 6 quarts of chicken stock and 5 quarts, plus 1 1/2 pints of turkey stock (only 'cause I ran out of quart jars).  Yesterday I made a loaf of bread, a batch of soda bread breakfast rolls and some honey peanut butter to spread on the rolls...

which we ate for breakfast this morning

...YUM.

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Soda Bread Breakfast Rolls

View and print this recipe at TastyKitchen.com (please note that I'm new to Tasty Kitchen, and it sometimes takes awhile for them to review recipes, so these links might not work right away...  I'll try to time it better in the future)

(adapted from Ina Garten's Irish Soda Bread)

4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
4 Tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 3/4 cups cold buttermilk, shaken*
1 extra large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp. grated orange zest
1 cup dried fruit of choice, chopping larger pieces of fruit if necessary (I used 1/2 multi-colored raisins, 1/2 cranberries)

The following ingredients are all optional and may be substituted with any seeds/nuts that sound good to you, or left out altogether...  I added all of these:
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds
1 Tbsp. organic chia seeds
1 Tbsp. raw, shelled hemp seeds
2 Tbsp. roasted, salted, shelled sunflower seeds

*if you don't have buttermilk, you can use your regular milk with a splash of lemon juice...  just let it sit for a few minutes to thicken up a bit before using it, then stir it up and use it like normal buttermilk.

Please note: if you don't have a stand mixer, use a large bowl and a wooden spoon - DO NOT try to mix this with a hand mixer, you *will* burn out the motor.

Preheat oven to 375°

Measure the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda and salt) into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Mix for just a few seconds to bring the dry ingredients together.  Reserve about 2 Tbsp. of this mixture to dust your fruit with later.  Add butter to dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined.  Add seeds and mix for just a second (if you're using larger nuts, don't add them yet....  wait until you mix the fruit in).

Stir together the buttermilk, egg and orange zest.  Add to mixing bowl and mix just until combined.

Dust fruit with the reserved dry ingredients and add fruit (and nuts) to the mixing bowl.

At this point, the dough will be very wet and sticky.  Don't worry, it's supposed to be like that.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and dust with more flour.  Knead until the dough is no longer sticky.  Lightly roll the dough ball in flour and divide into roll-sized balls, dusting each lightly in flour.  Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets, leaving 1 1/2-2" between each ball.  Cut a line or a cross into the top of each dough ball if you'd like.

Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes, or until rolls are golden brown on the bottom and make a hollow sound when tapped in the center.  Transfer to a cooling rack immediately.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Honey Peanut Butter
View and print this recipe at TastyKitchen.com

5 Tbsp. all-natural, creamy peanut butter
5 Tbsp. good quality honey

Measure peanut butter into small mason jar and microwave for 30 seconds (or heat it on the stove top just until it softens).  Measure honey into the same container.  Stir well.

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Enjoy!

If you try either (or both) of these recipes, please let me know how you like them!