Originally intended as a holiday treat, this dish has become a staple at all important family events. The inspiration for the dish originated from a recipe in a cookbook from Colonial Williamsburg, but I changed it to include fruit instead of peppercorns. Serve the dish with crackers and top with parsley sprigs.
| Prep Time: | 25 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 36 |
| Yield: | 36 cookies |
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup dried currants
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon caraway seed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and caraway in a mixing bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in currants.
- Mix in beaten egg. Pour in buttermilk and mix with a fork to make a soft dough (may need a little more buttermilk).
- On a floured surface, shape dough into a ball and knead lightly 5 or 6 times. Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick and cut into squares and triangles with a knife. Place cookies on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until slightly browned.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 73 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 11 g |
| Cholesterol | 12 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 56 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 3 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
They were super easy to make. I substituted craisins, since I couldn’t find currants and dislike raisins. The perfect blend of savory sweet.
This is so yummy! My cousins enjoyed this so much. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I too skipped the kneading and used a small cookie scoop. I added raisins and baked 15 minutes. They were soooooo good. This will be my go to every St Patrick’s day as I always mess up the actual soda bread
With such a wonderful discovery in Allrecipes how can anyone Not be transformed into a wonderful cook and baker? This recipe was indeed as quick and easy as described.
I am an Irish New Yorker, and my family has been using a NY Times Irish soda bread recipe for close to 100 years. These cookies are going to change the tradition in our house. They are quick, easy and very authentic. I just sent a batch to my college student who was feeling homesick. Thank you for posting this recipe. It is a keeper.
Made the recipe as published. The cookies went over very well at my Garden Club meeting. Will definitely make it again. (And many are asking for the recipe!)
Loved it. I used blueberries and cranberries .
Made about 30, 2” cutouts. I made them as directed and was pleased by the soft, quickly rollable dough. I had been worried that the kneading – rolling – cutting would take a lot more time than drop cookies, but it hardly did. Even without chilling, the dough didn’t put up a sticky fight with my pin. I added the caraway seeds, they’re for a group of adults – for kids I might leave them out, but the dough would be bland without them. Next time, I might add a bit of grated orange rind to complement the caraway! A nicely unusual keeper for my recipe collection.
We love this recipe so much!! Thank you! I find it does need a bit more than 1/4c buttermilk, but that’s easy. They’re so good! 🙂
I used my pizza wheel to cut these into triangles….easy peasy. They’re good. The only changes I made were to use raisins instead of currants and a gave them an egg wash before baking then topping with green sugar. Very sweet.
left caraway in and substituted cranberries for currants. shaped cookies by hand. hubby and I thought they were great. kids found them to be dry, maybe more of a grown-up cookie…
Outstanding recipe!
Tried these as an easy alternative to soda bread because I only have a toaster oven which is too small for soda bread baking. My husband loved them so much we had to make a second batch! He doesn’t even like soda bread but he loves these! They turned out sweeter than the soda bread I’ve made in the past (when I had an oven) but that could be fixed with less sugar.
I LOVE this cookie recipe!! I doubled the recipe and wasn’t sorry for doing so!! These cookies remind me of a scone but a little sweeter. I made one change and that was the buttermilk…..I didn’t have any so I just added 2 tsps. of white vinegar to a half cup of milk. Everyone loves these cookies and want the recipe!! Thanks for sharing Laria Tabul. I am definitely making them again (doubling the recipe).
My husband does not like caraway so I left them out. Currently looking for another spice that I can add. Cookies were great for coffee but needed a little spice. I will make these again once I found an additional spice ingredient. Does anyone have a calorie count per cookie?
Tastes like soda bread in a sweet cookie. Love it! Made it for St. Patty’s day one year but now I just make it any time I have some buttermilk on hand. Even easier to make it you just scoop by rounded tablespoon onto cookie sheet and cook. Might not be as pretty but certainly just as tasty!
I liked them as the recipe stated. But not sweet enough for kiddos. Used 1 1/4 cup sugar for them.
TOO sweet for me. Next time I would maybe reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup.
Not my cup of tea. Dough was too wet and there was no flavour.
Great cookies!! Made them for St. Patrick’s day and added green food coloring! The caraway definitely was good. Maybe next time I’d use a little more even. These definitely are not really sweet cookies but are still very enjoyable and more so naturally sweet from the currants.
I have been making these cookies for years and now everyone looks for them each St. Patrick’s Day. A few months ago, I found out I have Celiac disease. After making 3 batches of this for everyone else (schools, work, family, etc!) I just tried a gluten free version. I substituted the flour with gluten-free all purpose flour, added 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum and followed the rest of the recipe as I always do (raisins, 1/2 cup buttermilk, no caraway seeds, dropped on cookie sheet). I needed to bake the gluten free cookies about 16-17 minutes, as opposed to 12 for the regular batch. They’re still more cake-like and less like a cookie (but they are still warm so they may just need some time). It’s not EXACT but it is very, very close to these cookies! I’m still learning about baking with different gluten free flours and will post an update as I tweak this recipe going forward. So far I am so happy to be able to enjoy these gluten free!