Strawberry Scones and Irish Soda Bread

Ok, so this morning I got up and made Strawberry Scones and had Fredric help me make Soda Bread (he knew how to use a breadmaker better than me). The Guinness Irish Stew looks great--I tried a bit of it this morning, and it tastes great too. I will be adding the cornstarch to it to thicken it, once it gets a little closer to the time to serve it!

The Strawberry Scones proved to be a bit odd to make....but I have never made a scone before. I am a bit worried I screwed it up (it's in the oven now), due to the fact I did not have cookie cutters to make even shapes, I just used my hands. Also I was worried that it didn't look/feel right when I put it on the pan...it seemed like it might be a bit more runny than it should (this could be due to the fact I used frozen strawberries). Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:
1 cup strawberries
2 1/3 cups of flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons Irish Butter*
2/3 cup milk

Method:
Preheat oven to 425°F
1. Cut strawberries in 1/2 inch pieces and set aside
2. In large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt
3. Add butter. With pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs
4. Stir in reserved strawberries and toss well to coat
5. Add milk all at once. With a fork, lightly toss until mixture holds together
6. With floured hands, gently form into a ball. Gently roll out dough on floured board until 1/2 inch thick
7. Cut into two-and-a-half-inch circles with floured cookie cutter or upside down plastic tumbler
8. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake until golden - about 12 minutes.
Serve warm with either strawberry preserves and/or whipped cream.

As for the bread, I wanted to use the breadmaker, but all of those recipes had carraway seeds and raisins in them. I ended up just removing those. Traditional Irish Soda Bread does not have those things in them. So here is the recipe for that:

Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups buttermilk
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. caraway seeds
3 cups bread flour
2 tsp. yeast
1/3 cup raisins

How to make this recipe:
Add all ingredients in order per your bread maker instructions (follow directions for 1 1/2 pound loaf) EXCEPT for raisins; add those at the beep. Continue with your machine instructions. Makes a 1 1/2 pound loaf

The bread has 3 hours left on it, and the scones have 3 minutes!! I will update once the scones come out!

Ok Scones are done....and taste YUMMY! They do not look so great though. If I had used the cookie cutter I am sure they would look alright. Also I used frozen strawberries, so they were a bit more moist (and in some cases, the strawberry juice "leaked" a bit) than a regular scone (which is good for me, seeing as I don't really like that dry crumbly texture that much.) In an hour or so I will be making the cheesecake. I will be posting pics of the stew and bread when they are ready.