Soda Bread Scones

Happy Almost St. Patrick's Day to everyone.  Although I am far from Irish, St. Patty's Day gets a lot of play here in Boston, since there is such a large Irish-American population here and Bostonians in general like to drink, and for most people, St. Patrick's day means lots of drinking!  But for me, in addition to the drinking (a St. Patrick's Day drink will be coming later in the week) it also means Irish-American Soda Bread starts turning up in stores. I know that the soda bread with raisins and caraway seeds is not "real" Irish Irish soda bread, but I love the combination of sweet and salty in the Americanized version.  The problem I often have with the store bought variety is that the loafs are so big and dense, only the edges are really good, and the middle is either underdone or the whole thing is a massive dry hockey pock.  I thought breaking up the soda breads into little scones would solve this issue when I made some at home this weekend, and it really did help.  This are appropriately dense but also tender and moist.  I made these with currants and caraway seeds, but raisins would be just as good. 
Irish-American Soda Bread Scones, adapted from Epicurious.com (makes 5 large scones)(printable recipe)
I cut the epicurious recipe in half because frankly I ran out of flour, and only had 2 and 1/2 cups rather than 5 cups of flour.  This made 5 generous scones, so if you are feeding a crowd, double the recipe below.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into little pieces
1 cup dried currants or raisins
1 tablespoon plus 1 and 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Grease a large cast iron skillet  (or 2) or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  These could also be baked in a dutch oven.
3. Whisk the first five ingredients in a large bowl.
4. Add butter, use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour so that the mixture is mealy - the butter bits should be very small.  Alternatively, you can use your hands to do this.
5. Stir in the raisins and the caraway seeds.
6. Whisk the buttermilk and egg together in a small bowl.
7. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry and stir together with a wooden spoon.  The mixture will be wet.
8. Using well floured hands, divide the dough into little scone like rounds and arrange around the skillet. It is OK if they touch.
9. Bake for approximately 50 - 1 hour minutes, until a toothpick or other implement is inserted into the middle of a scone and comes out clean.
10. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes then turn out on rack to cool completely.
11. These are best if enjoyed within a day or two of baking.