Oh Mary! Mary O’s Irish Soda Bread Scones

Let’s get to it!  A rundown of another stint in New York City.  We took an early morning flight and arrived in NYC, just in time for dinner.  We headed to one of our favorite spots in the Lower East Side, Kisa.  A casual restaurant inspired by taxi driver stops in Korea, called Sik Dangs, think roadside diners. It’s Korean soul food, homey, filling, and delicious.  The perfect meal after flying 6 hours.

All you have to do is pick your entree: Bulgogi (beef), Spicy Pork, Squid or Bi Bim Bap.  I’m partial to the Bibimbap with Bulgogi.  Your array of Banchan (little dishes) accompanies every entree.  This includes kimchi, and a rotating variety of delicious pickled veggies, or marinated raw salmon, shrimp, mayak eggs or steamed eggs.  The Banchan is the highlight of the meal. So good.  Soup also comes with the meal, usually a beef and radish soup, the perfect start to a meal.  On your way out, grab a cup of black bean latte or hot chocolate from the complimentary vending machine by the door.  If this is a typical place in Korea, taxi drivers eat very well 😋

The next morning, we headed to Mary O’s Irish Soda Bread Shop.  Mary O’s scones are so good that there is a line out the door every morning.  This is the only item on the menu: raisin scones.  Served warm, split in half vertically, with a slab of Irish butter and a spoonful of homemade blackberry jam.  They’re buttery, crispy on the outside, and tender with a nice crumb on the inside.  It’s worth the wait on a weekday, which is when you want to go; the wait on weekends can be hella LONG.

Lucky For Me

It’s a bummer to think I don’t have a Mary O’s at home, so I was thrilled to see a copycat recipe for said scones appear on Food52. Short of having Goldbelly deliver scones for an outrageous amount of money, this recipe could solve my Mary O’s Scones cravings, and I wouldn’t even have to wait in line.

Let’s Make Some Scones

Butter – I use Kerrygold butter.  As they say, when in Rome… Kerrygold has a higher fat content, which means a richer, buttery flavor.  Its higher fat and lower moisture content result in flakier, more tender scones.  Kerrygold is widely available at TJs, Costco, and most supermarkets. You can substitute it with a European-style butter like Plugra.

Flour – Mary imports her flour from Ireland, which you can buy at her shop.  It’s called Odlums.  I didn’t have the foresight to buy a bag in NYC (don’t laugh, I used to bring home White Lily Flour every time I went to Nashville) so I looked up the ingredient list for Odlums flour.  It has a similar protein content to Gold Medal AP flour (~10gms/cup) so my first batch was made using Gold Medal. For curiosity’s sake, I tried King Arthur AP flour, which has a higher protein content (12gm/cup) to compare.

The Scones made with GM flour were tender, fine crumbed, and crispy on the outside. The scones made with KA flour were also delicious, but they seemed a bit crumblier and drier than the Gold Medal.  Both are delicious.  If you like a more tender, cake-like scone, use Gold Medal.  For a more classic scone, use King Arthur flour.  Don’t skip the generous slab of butter and a big dollop of jam, especially if you use King Arthur flour.

The Key is in the Process

Get out your muffin tin.  Yep, you read that right.  Unlike regular scones, these are baked in a muffin tin.  There’s a reason for this.  The dough should not form a cohesive dough that can be cut, like regular scones.  Start by coating your butter with the flour mixture, I like to press the butter cubes into flakes and use a pastry cutter to blend and cut the butter into smaller flakes.

Drizzle the buttermilk and cream into the mixture.  I use a dough whisk and my hands to stir the liquid into the flour mixture.   You will end up with a very loose mixture of clumps of dough and crumbs. Compressing the dough will toughen the scones.  Do not compress it into a disk.

Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop, slightly press it to stay in the scoop, and fill the muffin tin.  There will be lots of stragglers, or crumbs left.  Sprinkle these evenly over each scone.  You should have enough dough for 12 scones.  Egg wash each scone by dabbing the wash with a brush liberally on each one.  Bake at 425 for 20-22 minutes.  I took the scones out at 20 minutes, the tops were a nice deep golden brown. Yes, they come out looking like muffins. 🤷🏻‍♀️

To Serve:  Pull out your salted Kerrygold butter, split the scone in half vertically, careful not to cut all the way through. Slide a pat of butter in between and top with a generous dollop of jam.  My preference is a berry jam, with raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. My freezer jam recipe is here, or use your favorite jam.  Make a cup of Irish or English Tea and enjoy.

Testing with King Arthur Flour was an excuse to make yet another batch of these scones—lovely way to start the morning.

Check out my Instagram reel on making these scones!