Irish Brown Bread

Ever since the soda bread baking of a few weeks ago, I've been craving fresh, out-of-the-oven hearty breads. Ok, I always crave that, but lately it's been moreso than usual.
This recipe is from the NY Times -- the bread is still baking in the oven now, but will try to update on how it turned out later!

Ingredients
3 cups extra coarse wholemeal flour
1 cup oat bran
3 tablespoons wheat germ
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg, beaten
2 cups milk (I used 1 cup buttermilk + 1 1/2 cup vanilla unsweetened almond milk)

Method
1. Combine first seven ingredients and fluff together with hands to mix in the baking soda and baking powder completely.
2. Add egg and milk and stir to combine until it has the consistency and appearance of oatmeal.
3. Spray and flour a 9” round baking pan. Pour in batter and score the top with a cross. (“You’re wishing the bread well as it goes into the oven,” says Margaret.)
4. Bake at 380 degrees for one hour. Cool on a rack completely before cutting. Can be kept out for a day or two, but otherwise needs to be refrigerated or frozen.

* Note: I couldn't find coarse wholemeal flour easily (even in Boulder!) so I justed stoneground whole wheat flour + ~2 Tbsp millet +2 Tbsp extra oatbran for some extra crunch. I also had to add about 1/4-1/2 cup more milk, and even then my dough was far more dough-like than it was oatmeal-like.

St. Patty's Day Minty Green Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies

This is a recipe I threw together based on combinations of others -- feel free to tweak according to your taste for mint!

1 batch favorite chocolate chip cookie dough batter
2 cups dark chocolate chunks
1 tsp sea salt
1 - 2 Tbsp creme de menthe
1/2 - 1 tsp green food coloring

Make chocolate chip cookie dough according to directions
Mix in desired amount of creme de menthe, to taste.
Stir in green food coloring to desired color.
Gently stir in chocolate chunks and sea salt.
Roll into balls and bake til firm on edges; top with a sprinkle more of sea salt if desired.
(~350/9-11min at sea level, add another 2Tbsp or so of flour, 325/10-12min at altitude...timing depends on size of cookie)

Irish Soda Bread

I love Irish Soda Bread and make sure to bake up a fresh loaf for St. Patty's Day every year.
This year's recipe comes from Baking Bites, and I really like the addition of oats here. I think I could have adjusted for altitude a little bit better, as my bread was sort of gummy (not really surprising, as my dough stayed pretty sticky)...but I strangely sort of like gummy bread centers so it worked.
I basically followed the recipe as posted, except substituted whole wheat pastry flour for about half the flour amount. Eaten warm with some melted butter, this was just the Irish Soda Bread perfection I was hoping for!

Oats and Honey Irish Soda Bread
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour*
1/2 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp honey
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup raisins (I used golden raisins)

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Add in honey and buttermilk and stir until dough comes together. Stir in raisins. Dough should be only slightly sticky, so that it is easy to knead. If it is too dry, add an additional tbsp or two of buttermilk.
Keeping the dough in the bowl, knead it for 1-2 minutes, turning the dough, pressing it firmly with the heel of your hand, then turning the dough and repeating. Shape dough into a ball and place on prepared baking sheet. Flatten dough until it forms a disc about 1 - 1 1/2 inches thick.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until loaf is golden brown.
Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes on a wire rack before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf, serves 6.

* I used 1cup + 2Tbsp AP flour [extra 2 Tbsp for alt] + 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour