I want to let all of you know about a fun baking club! It’s called “Cross Country Bakers” and was started by two Christian sisters who want to help other ladies expand their baking repertoire. They are looking for more people to join!
It is open to Christian ladies of any age. Each month we pick an overall theme, and a recipe within that theme for each week. Every week everyone in the club makes the recipe (you are free to be creative and substitute ingredients, or even change the recipe around into something else – we’ve had coffee cake turned into yeast bread before…
). Everyone takes a photo of their finished product and on Saturday posts it on the CCB blog along with their synopsis of how they liked it, what they would do differently next time, and any changes they made.
All you need to join this club is a camera, a Blogger (Google) account (which is free!), an oven and a love of baking!
You can visit the CCB blog HERE. If you have any questions, or to sign up, email Hannah at crosscountrybakers (at) yahoo.com.

Nov. 26 update: For Miss Jocelyn and the rest of you who would like to taste this fabulous bread for yourselves:
Mrs. C.’s Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients:
4 cups flour, plus more for kneading
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup raisins
2 Tbsp. caraway seeds (optional)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
1½ cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing pan
Instructions:Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, raisins, caraway seeds, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, eggs and 2 Tbsp. butter. Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients to form a dough.
Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, about 4 minutes; add more flour as needed to prevent sticking. Form dough into a 9-inch round; place on prepared baking sheet. Brush loaf with remaining Tbsp. of butter. Using a sharp knife, score an X on top of loaf.
Bake until skewer inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool on wire rack before serving. Enjoy!
This is one of my absolute favorite breads! It mixes up pretty quickly and has a sweet flavor – sometimes we like to sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar (or other “large chunk” sugar) before baking. YUM!