Irish Soda Bread Muffins

From King Arthur Baking, via my sister, Sylvia. We grew up having Irish soda bread on St. Patrick's Day. One of us loved it; one of us didn't. These muffins are a sweeter and quicker version of the bread. If you make 12 muffins, they have 217 calories each.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter (I use salted)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 2 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour (You can also use 1 1⁄2 cups of all-purpose flour combined with 3⁄4 cup of whole wheat or white whole wheat flour.)
• 1⁄3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt (I use Morton)
• 1 1⁄3 cups currants coarse sugar (Demerara, turbinado or cane) for topping

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Generously grease a standard muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. You can also line the cups with cupcake papers.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl or pyrex measuring cup melt the butter on high power for 1-1 1⁄2 minutes. Add the buttermilk and stir well then add the egg and whisk everything together.
3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and currants (or raisins).
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the buttermilk mixture. It will seem like too much flour, at first. Keep mixing, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl just until all of the flour is incorporated. Don’t over-mix!
5. Scoop the dough into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle each with a scan 1⁄2 teaspoon of course sugar. Bake for 20-22 minutes until the muffins are nicely domed and light golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to coop for 2 minutes then remove from the pan to a cooling rack.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature. Serve them plain, or with butter and/or jam.