Marvelous Mango Muffins

Dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner…that’s what we’ve been doing this weekend! One of the kids made a joke about it at the dinner table the other night, and we thought—why not?!?! So, while we dine on pizza for breakfast, I’ve got all day long to come up with a scrumptious breakfast item for dinner.

Today, for the first time, we headed north to the Denver Zoo. It was such a beautiful day, with the sun shining and a slight breeze, and the kids were able to run around, scouting out the animals that they all love. As we flitted from here to there, I found a little piece of my mind focusing on what to whip up for our breakfast dinner. As I was thinking, the hubster reminded me that mangos have been on sale lately, and if you remember, I tend to have a slight obsession with mangos from time to time (Mango eggrolls anyone?). So, enter the mango muffins…with a hit of healthy packed in there. I so love when I can incorporate some healthy components—whole wheat flour, chia seeds (my other new obsession), and fresh fruit—into something so yummy.

When thinking of spices for the muffins, I referred back to my mango egg rolls and decided to mirror the spice combo. Pure scrumptiousness!   And to break open a warm muffin and see those little bits of mango baked right in…pure heaven!  I base so many “reviews” and feedback from the hubster and the kids, but since we’re talking breakfast for dinner—I looooove breakfast for dinner—I made sure I had my fair share too!  In all honesty, we had to put the kibosh on how many muffins the kids were eating just so that we’d have enough for another time–and this recipe makes two dozen! 🙂

 

• Servings: 24
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Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cup of diced fresh Mango (roughly 1 mango)
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Ground Cardamom
1 Tablespoon Chia Seeds
½ cup Applesauce
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup Almond Milk
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

Topping Ingredients:

½ cup brown sugar
1 TBSP cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line 24 muffin tins.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, spices, and chia seeds.
3. In a separate bowl, stir the applesauce, almond milk, vanilla and oil.
4. Make a “well” in the flour mixture and then pour all of the liquid mixture in.
5. Mix the dry and liquid ingredients until just moistened. Fold in the fresh mango.
6. Evenly pour the batter into paper lined muffin pan cups, approximately ½ to 2/3 full.
7. Prepare the topping—mix the brown sugar and 1 TBSP cinnamon together in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly on the filled muffin cups.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown

 

So, do you ever treat yourself to breakfast for dinner? What’s your favorite breakfast item?

Cinnamon Mango Eggrolls

Mmm—mmm—mango! I have been on a major mango kick lately.  I think that I’ve had a mango (or two) as my “dinner” for the at least three or four nights this week. I’ve looked up videos on the proper ways to cut mangos. I’ve dreamed of mango recipes. You could say I’ve got Mango Madness!

All week I kept thinking of what I could do with my beloved mangoes that was just a little different but that would be oh-so-scrumptious. And boy—did I hit the nail on the head with this one. Yesterday was the Home Depot workshop day, and as usual, Aaron took the kids…leaving me to my own devices in the kitchen! I was armed with some sugar, some spices, and some mangoes.

Lucky for me, the Home Depot project took a little longer than usual (sorry honey—but hey, we’ve got five new bird feeders!), so I had extra time to play with some sugar and spices. Since I haven’t actually cooked with mangoes before, I wasn’t sure what sort of spices—other than cinnamon—would pair well with this juicy fruit. Well, two hours into my playing, Aaron called to say they were finally headed home for a late lunch. Now, lucky for them, they would have a sweet, warm, gooey dessert waiting for them.

The kids have been begging me for mangoes all week, but admittedly, I’ve been selfish, fending them off with apples and bananas. So, when they walked in, they were super excited to see a new dessert that involved mangoes…”What are thoooose???” “OMG! Mangoes!” (I kid you not—my kids say OMG) Once again, they crowded around as I was taking pictures, attempting to put fingers, faces, and stuffed animals in the pictures (can you spot the red dino photo-bomber?)

 

Don’t let the idea of this dessert being an eggroll intimidate you…they’re actually pretty easy to make!

After you dice the mangos and toss them in sugar, you set them aside. This is when the fun really begins…and it goes quickly. When you turn the heat up on the sugar, watch it as it begins to cook quickly. Once it starts to brown and turn caramel in color, throw in the diced mangos. I found I ended up with chunks of hard sugar (my assumption is that this is from the mango juice combining with the super-hot sugar)—just pick those out. You wouldn’t want to crunch down on one of those! You’re left with a warm, gooey, sweet mango filling that is good enough to eat with a spoon…not that I would know…

I took pictures of the eggroll filling process to hopefully make things easier…especially if you’re a visual person like me! Begin with putting your filling in the middle of your eggroll wrapper, and fold the top corner over. Next, fold the left and right side corners in. With a brush, moisten the bottom corner, and fold it up and over, sticking it to the body of your eggroll. I suggest filling all of your eggrolls prior to frying them up. The frying process goes quickly as well…watch them as it’s easy to burn them…again…not that I would know.

 

 

 

Cinnamon Mango Eggrolls

2 Mangos, diced
2/3 cup sugar
1 ½ TBSP brandy
2 TBSP Earth Balance butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cardamom powder
½ tsp allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
6-7 eggroll wrappers**
Vege oil for frying
4 TBSP powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Toss the diced mangoes with 1 TBSP of the sugar and set aside.
2. Sauté the remaining sugar over high heat and cook, without stirring, until the sugar starts to caramelize and turns golden brown, just a few minutes. Add the mangoes and toss to coat.
3. Remove the pan from the heat, add the brandy, and place back on the heat. Pick out any hard lumps of sugar.
4. Bring the brandy/sauce to a boil. Add the butter, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves, cooking over high heat for 3 minutes.
5. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool.
6. To fill you wrapper, place the wrapper with a corner facing you. Place 2-3 TBSP of filling in the middle of the wrapper.
7. Fold the top corner over the filling. Fold the sides in. Brush the corner facing you with water, and roll the corner over the middle of the filling, making a cylinder.
8. Heat the vege oil to approximately 350 degrees (you’ll see little heat lines running through the oil). Fry each egg roll 1-2 minutes, turning with tongs to prevent burning. Drain and allow to cool on a paper towel.
9. Dust with powdered sugar.

**They do make egg-free eggroll wrappers, but I admit…I was too lazy to get some.  I used the real version.  I encourage you to not be lazy though!

So, how do you like your mangoes????