Easy Chocolatey Mug Cake; 3 Irish Recipes: Cooking With Courtney (2024)

Community Corner

Try these three Irish-inspired recipes, including an authentic family recipe, plus a chocolatey microwaveable bread pudding mug cake.

Posted Mon, Mar 15, 2021 at 12:08 pm PT|Updated Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 3:39 pm PT

Good news: This week's Cooking with Courtney post is chock-full of tasty recipes for you and your family. Not one, but four. A quadruple threat. Woohoo!

I've got three recipes to help you ring in St. Patrick's Day, plus a brand new, chocolatey and cinnamony bread pudding microwaveable mug cake recipe that can also be Irish-ified.

Let's discuss that briefly first. We've got a lot of very tasty ground to cover today...

Bread Pudding Mug Cake

Never waste an unused baguette or bread loaf again! This bread pudding mug cake has just five key ingredients, but feel free to add toppings like chocolate chips or nuts into the mix. (You should definitely do that.)

It’s the perfect choice for those nights when you’re desperate for a sweet treat, don’t have a fully stocked pantry, but want to snack on something a little more refined than chocolate chips out of the bag. (I do it, too — no judgment here.) This bread pudding mug cake recipe still feels a little special, but you don’t have to wait 40 minutes for it to bake or hassle with all the dishes. This cooks in less than 3 minutes.

And if you want to get a lil' festive for St. Patrick's Day? Maybe add a dash of Bailey's Irish Cream. Throw some raisins into the mix. Mmmmm...

Get the recipe here.

I've also got three Irish-inspired recipes for St. Patrick's Day, including a vegetarian recipe that can easily be made vegan — perfect for anyone looking to cut back on their meat intake. If you've read my older recipes, you might know that I am Irish American. So I'm stoked to share these!

You can get more details on those recipes here, but here's a sneak peek of what's featured.

Authentic Irish Soda Bread

This was an immediate hit on my blog! This traditional recipe has been passed down in my family through the generations, straight from the motherland (Belfast).

Straightforward recipe with just five ingredients. Get crazy with this recipe and make it your own by adding chocolate chips, nuts, and even dried or fresh fruits, such as cherries, berries, craisins or raisins. Everyone in the family can pick and choose what they want inside!

Get the recipe here.

Best Ever Cheesy Shepherd's Pie

Title says it all, am I right?

Seriously, if I could only pick one thing to eat for the rest of my life, it would be this.

It’s my mom’s recipe, which is her take on this Irish classic. It’s got melty sharp cheddar, the creamiest mashed potatoes, and savory bullion-enhanced beef with crisp, fresh green beans and carrots. Top-notch comfort food baked in a casserole dish.

And that gooey, cheesy crust on top?! HEAVEN.

Get the recipe here.

Miso-Mushroom Colcannon Bowl

This Irish-inspired dish is a delicious spin on another classic: colcannon. Colcannon is an Irish dish that combines mashed potatoes with greens, like cabbage, for some extra nutrition. It makes a super comforting backdrop for these buttery, garlicky miso-soy mushrooms.

And for my vegan friends, you can easily make this vegan by swapping milk for dairy-free milk and butter for oil or vegan butter. Olive oil works very well here, too.

Get the recipe here.

And one more thing before I go! Speaking of veggie-based meals, I'm doing something special this week: We're looking for plant-based, vegetarian, vegan, etc. dishes to be featured as a "Reader Recipe of the Week."

Got a plant-based recipe to share? Please email it to me at courtney.teague@patch.com. I can't wait to see what you've got to share with your neighbors.

Cooking with Courtney is a weekly series featuring recipes by Patch Editor Courtney Teague. She also features reader recipe submissions in her Reader Recipe of the Week series.

Want to submit your recipes to be posted on Patch or submit a recipe request? Email her at courtney.teague@patch.com.

Keep up with her latest recipes on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter @feedthesoulblog.