I love making “special” food for holidays. It is so fun to have a reason to switch things up. I always make a traditional corned beef and cabbage meal for St. Patrick’s Day. I am a quarter Irish, after all, and I love the entire meal: the corned beef, the cabbage, the carrots, the potatoes…. yum!

But I always like to try to make one thing a little different each year. I have made shamrock shaped spritz cookies. I have made Irish Soda Bread. I turn leftovers into a delicious breakfast the next morning. Last year I let E pick out the dessert recipe of her choice (it was more trouble than it was worth to be honest) but she enjoyed it.  And it did look cute.

This year, I’m making Irish Guinness Brown Bread. I made it once before right after I saw Ina Garten and received her most recent cookbook, Cooking For Jeffrey. It was delicious!!! I combined Ina’s recipe with some others I found online and came up with this gem below.

This is a bread but it is a little sweet and so moist I could eat it like cake. It really is like a quick bread. Slice it and serve with some good butter like Irish Kerrygold. It is St. Patty’s Day, go all out on the fancy butter.

Eat it by itself or as part of your traditional meal.

Tips:

1. You don’t want the melted butter to be too hot and/or the buttermilk to be too cold. This will make a congealed gross blob (I’ve done this). Have the butter melted but not smoking hot and make sure the buttermilk is at room temperature. Slowly whisk each liquid into the bowl in the order listed below.
2. This bread will look done on the outside before it is completely cooked on the inside. Bake it for at least 40 minutes before you turn off the oven.
   

   Ready to go in the oven

   

   10 minutes more to cook!

   

   Let it cook in the oven with the door open for 30 minutes…

   

   Then, let it finish cooling on a rack

2/4/2022 Edit- Skip my recipe below.  I tried to tweak it because Ina hadn’t published hers online yet and I was nervous about copyright stuff.  Now she has it online so just use her original recipe!  Click here!

Irish Guinness Brown Bread

Ingredients:
1 c Old Fashioned Oats, plus extra for sprinkling
2 ¼ c Whole Wheat Flour
¼ c All-Purpose Flour
½ c Brown Sugar
2¼ tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1/3 c Butter, melted
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 c Buttermilk (at room temp)
1 bottle Guinness (at room temp)

Preheat oven to 450

Grease a loaf pan or spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray

Add the first 7 ingredients to a large mixing bowl; whisk to blend and break up any clumps.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, vanilla, buttermilk and beer.
Gradually pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients while stirring.
Continue to stir everything together until it is blended (this will be the consistency of a batter as opposed to a bread dough)

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle the top with some more oats.
Put the bread in the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 400.
Bake for 40 minutes.

Turn off the oven and open the door.
Let bread cool in the oven for 30 minutes
Remove from the oven, take out of the pan, and let finish cooling on a rack.

Can be made ahead and stored wrapped in plastic.

Delicious!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!