Caraway Irish Soda Bread Muffins
Hearty Irish soda bread muffins packed with the distinctive flavor of caraway seeds. Ready in 30 minutes, and so easy to make for breakfast, snacks, or a festive side to go with your St. Patrick’s Day feast.
If you are like me, it may only occur to you to make soda bread, oh, once a year. Right around March 17. Hi, my name is Monica and my #1 way of celebrating any holiday is to cook or bake something.
However, I think we can make a serious case for eating these muffins year-round. They’re simple and fast to make. They’re hearty and substantial. They’re delicious. Especially when you add a pat of butter. Because, really, is there anything that’s not best eaten with a generous pat of butter?
Obviously not.
How to Avoid Soggy Muffin Bottoms
These are so dead simple to make, I don’t have much in the way of customized or step-by-step guidance. Whisk dry ingredients, whisk wet ingredients, stir to combine. Probably the most important thing to do is actually just remembering not to over mix when stirring the wet into the dry. In most baked goods, but especially these muffins, you want to stir only until the batter is evenly moistened. Continuing to mix past that point can overwork the gluten in your flour, leading to an overly dense or dry finished product.
So just stir a few times, then repeat after me: back away from the spoon. Back away from the spatula.
I did pick up one tip in the process of making these muffins that seemed to me pure genius. Immediately after the muffins come out of the oven, after you set the pan down on a cooling rack, gently lift each muffin and tilt it slightly in its well, as shown below. This allows the muffin to continue cooling properly in the pan, but prevents the bottom from getting soggy as it sits trapped under heat and moisture. So easy, and it works like a charm.
King Arthur Flour, from which I adapted this recipe with only modest tweaks, is great for including little tips like this in their recipes! I will be doing this little “tilt effect” with all my muffins from now on!
I will leave it at that. My husband’s been traveling for the past week, and for the first time, his absence is really troubling my son, so I’ve been getting WAY less sleep than usual. And even the usual is still not enough, obviously, because life, right!?
So I will leave you with one more shot of said son, who is lucky to be so darn cute and sweet, at least during normal waking hours, doing his usual “inspection” of the product. 🙂 And I hope you enjoy these muffins as much as I and my always eager taste-testers did!
More Muffin Recipes
- Luscious Strawberry Banana Muffins
- Wholesome Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Chocolate Chunk Banana Muffins
- Pumpkin Pecan Streusel Muffins
More St. Patrick’s Day Eats
- Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage from Mama Gourmand
- Rosemary Cheddar Irish Soda Bread
- Irish Cream Oreo Truffles
- Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Irish Cream Frosting
Recommended Equipment
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Caraway Irish Soda Bread Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (85 grams) white whole wheat flour can substitute additional all-purpose
- 1/3 cup (67 grams) granulated sugar plus extra for topping
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C). Lightly grease a standard muffin pan, and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, caraway seeds, salt, and baking soda.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and melted butter.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir gently to combine. Do not overmix; stop as soon as the batter is evenly moistened.
- Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin wells, filling each about 3/4 full. The batter will be stiff and form small mounds in the wells. Sprinkle a small amount of additional white sugar on top of each muffin, if desired.
- Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove pan from the oven, and gently tip the muffins in the pan; this prevents the bottoms from getting soggy. After 5-10 minutes, remove muffins to cool directly on a wire rack. Serve slightly warm, with butter.
Notes
- Storage: These taste best the day they are made, but can be kept at room temperature in an airtight container for up to three days.
- No buttermilk? It’s OK to substitute Greek yogurt or sour cream in this recipe.
- Low on butter? Substitute 1/3 cup of canola or another neutral cooking oil.
- Recipe: Adapted, slightly, from King Arthur Flour.
7 Comments on “Caraway Irish Soda Bread Muffins”
I do like caraway seeds – they work really well with bread, especially rye one. It’s a perfect addition to savory muffins too.
I completely agree, Ben – I think I’ll be using them a lot more now that I know how much I like them and how to use them! I’d love to try making a homemade rye bread!
This is such a fun twist on Irish soda bread. I’d gobble these up so fast.
I have a bunch of photos of my sneaky taste testers reaching in to grab tastes as well, lol. The caraway in these muffins is a great addition. Making these today!
I love the addition of caraway in these. It really elevates the flavor.
Here’s to celebrating holidays with baking and cooking! That happens at my house too!
Thanks for the tip on avoiding soggy bottoms … that’s going to make my muffins either last longer or disappear faster!
Omgosh I love everything about these! You had me at caraway…and in muffin form?…I’m in love 🙂 Pinning and sharing! Thanks for the recipe inspiration 🙂