St Patrick's Day

Traditional Irish brown bread is a simple combination of whole wheat and white flours, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk; this version adds a bit of enrichment in the form of sugar and butter (or oil) for a slightly sweeter, more tender loaf. T

In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day (aka the Feast of St. Patrick), these scones celebrate all things Irish. They feature our Irish-style wholemeal flour for that extra-tender, soda bread-like texture, and their flavor evokes a hot mug of cappuccino infused with Irish cream liqueur.

Tea brack — a.k.a. Irish Freckle Bread — is a moist, close-grained, packed-with-fruit breakfast bread. Based on Ireland's classic yeasted barm brack, this quicker version is just as popular in that country, where its only sweetness comes from the raisins and sultanas it's packed with.

Stout and other dark beers are often described as having chocolatey overtones, so this combination might not be as far-fetched as one might initially think. The flavor of this cake is multi-dimensional: the presence of the stout gives it a much more interesting finish; the hops from the beer act as a counterpoint to the sugar in the cake.