Posts Tagged ‘muffins’

Mango Mini Muffins

Monday, May 14th, 2012

Mmm…mangos. Who can resist a perfectly sweet ripe mango? No one in our house, that’s for sure. One of the reasons we love mangos so much is that you can use them to brighten up just about any dish, sweet or savory. We use them for smoothies, salsa, salads, sandwiches, cakes, and of course just by themselves as daily snacks.

I had had the opportunity to sample and learn a whole bunch about mangos last weekend at Camp Blogaway, courtesy of the Mango Board. Fun fact: Mangos are the most popular fruit in the world and are available year-round. Plus they are a nutritional powerhouse – they contain 100 percent of the daily recommended Vitamin C and 35 percent of your Vitamin A, as well as 12 percent of your daily dietary fiber.

As a former mango-mangler, I also learned how to cut mangos the right way to get the greatest possible amount of flesh. Standing your mango stem end down, slice straight down so that you cut off two flat “cheeks” from either side of the pit. Then score the fruit inside the cheeks, and then scoop or slice out the mango from the skin. (You can find a video of how to cut a mango here.)

So what’s our family’s favorite new way to eat mangos? I adapted the Mango Board’s recipe for Mango Bread and made it into these Mango Mini Muffins, which we fondly refer to as MMMs. Mmmmm….

Mango Mini Muffins (adapted from the Mango Board’s Mango Bread)

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 medium very ripe, soft mangos, peeled and pitted (1 1/2 mangos pureed and 1/2 mango diced)

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the streusel topping:

1 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the mango puree, egg, vanilla, and lime juice. In a separate large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the mango mixture to the flour mixture, stirring until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Stir in the diced mango. Carefully drop the batter, about a teaspoonful at a time, into lined mini muffin tins. To make the streusel, blend together the butter, brown sugar, and flour; then sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon of the mixture on top of each muffin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the muffin tops are firm and golden brown. Makes 2 1/2 dozen muffins.

You can serve these for breakfast, if you’re OK with the sugar, but we found these just as tasty for dessert. Just call them mango cupcakes, and everyone’s happy.

Blogger disclosure: We did not receive compensation for this post, although we did receive a box of mangos to sample from the Mango Board.

Posted Under: Just For Fun, Nutrition | Tags: , ,
This post was written by jollytomato on May 14th, 2012

Fun Food Saturday: Scuffins

Saturday, April 16th, 2011

When is a muffin not a muffin? When it’s a scuffin, of course. A scuffin is defined as a cross between a scone and a muffin — and beyond that it’s wide open to interpretation. Some people like to make their scuffins like muffins (soft, cake-like texture) that are in scone shape. Others prefer their scuffins in a traditional muffin shape but with a scone-like batter (more dense, biscuit-like texture and not as sweet). Either way, we wanted to try making some because we just like saying the word “scuffin.”

For the first round, we tried some muffins shaped like scones with these Pumpkin Chia Spelt Scuffins from Oh She Glows. Angela did a side-by-side to show how she made the original recipe (white flour, sugar) healthier (whole wheat spelt flour, agave nectar, and chia seeds for a little boost). Bonus tip: She baked some on a stick and decorated them with faces to make a great little kids’ treat. We didn’t have chia seeds on hand, but we still got thumbs-up from our kid tasters for the “healthy” version.

This next recipe is almost the opposite – a scone batter baked in a muffin shape. From Fragrant Vanilla Cake, we have these Blueberry Almond Scuffins. We substituted fresh blackberries for the dried blueberries, and in the end they did kinda taste like regular muffins, but still they were unbelievably tasty when they were fresh out of the oven. It also prompted our wise seven-year-old to propose making “cuffins” – a cross between cupcakes and muffins.

For a savory option, we like these Asiago Cheese Bacon Scuffins from My Bizzy Kitchen. The goal here is to make something that is scone-like but without quite so much butter. These puppies are almost a meal in themselves (you’ve got your protein, your dairy, your fruit…) and would be great to pop in a lunch box.

Conclusion? Even if they’re not radically different from your traditional breakfast baked goods, scuffins are pretty cool and it’s sure fun to talk about them. Oh, and we want to give a special thank-you shout-out to Little Ladies Who Lunch for the inspiration with their Bacon, Cheddar and Chive Scuffins.

Fun Food Saturday: Because food should be fun.

Posted Under: Just For Fun | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
This post was written by jollytomato on April 16th, 2011

Fun Food Saturday: French Toast

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

Good old French toast. It’s one of our favorite foods, and it’s so versatile it can either be a fancy treat for a holiday breakfast, or just  a way to use up old bread on a regular morning. This morning Jolly Tomato’s mom made some delicious French toast with thickly sliced challah bread (she swears it’s the best way to do it) and we piled it high with chopped fresh pineapple and dried cranberries.

The basic French toast recipe is pretty simple: Dunk slices of bread in an egg/milk mixture, and then fry it in a pan. But it’s the simplicity that lends itself to hundreds of variations. You can use white bread, whole-grain wheat bread, or even banana bread. You can dunk it in a cinnamon-flavored egg mixture or an orange-juice soaked one. And who says the bread has to be in plain square slices? This morning while Grandma used regular slices of bread, we were inspired to use cookie cutters to make our own whimsically shaped variations.

Once we had a few shapes made, we started thinking a little more outside the box. We love sweet-tasting French toast, so a star with five chocolate chip points was a big score at the breakfast table (our boys don’t like syrup very much, for whatever reason). But then we were thinking about how much we love a classic croque-monsieur so we decided to make a ham-and-cheese French toast Christmas tree. (Top a piece of French toast with thinly sliced ham, some grated cheese, and some diced red pepper, then toast in the toaster oven just until the cheese melts.)

The variations don’t stop there. Need a vegan version? This Holiday Tangerine French Toast from Healthy Happy Life fits the bill. We like these French Toast Breakfast Muffins from EasyFunSchool and we’re fascinated by this French Toast Baked Tofu from Carrots ‘n’ Cake. And if you’re into the more savory varieties like we are, try these Savory French Toast Bites from Foodie Reflections. And then when you’re ready for a festive, filling treat, try a stuffed French toast recipe like this Stuffed French Toast with strawberries and cream cheese from Tasty Kitchen. Now you’re set for Christmas morning – and beyond.

Fun Food Saturday: Because food should be fun.

(Photos courtesy of Jolly Tomato’s dad)

Posted Under: Just For Fun | Tags: , , , , ,
This post was written by jollytomato on December 18th, 2010
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