Mango Moufflet

Okay, this has to stop.

Just kidding.  It's only the beginning.  Which means one of us is going to be spending a lot more time in her walking shoes.

Mangoes were gorgeous and cheap this week - a sure sign of their juicy readiness.  Two of them got chopped up and stirred them into this happy (i.e. not unhealthy) recipe from Eating Well magazine.  Cinnamon and brown sugar played nicely with the piney sweetness of the tropical fruit, and pecans gave it crunch.

What's that in the middle, you say?  For a dozen muffins, an 8 oz. package of cream cheese got softened with the zest and juice of one lime and sweetened just a bit with powdered sugar.  These moufflets got only one middle layer instead of two because the mango chunks tended to make slicing a bit more challenging.  Again, piping is the easiest way to apply the filling.

Looking at the recipe, I was put off at first by their use of the dry ingredient "mix" but quickly realized it's just all the dry ingredients you'd usually assemble in a separate bowl. - and kind of handy if you're a do-ahead or Once-A-Month-Cooking kind of person.

1 batch of Quick-Bread Dry Mix (below)

2 large eggs

1 cup nonfat buttermilk

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups diced mango

1/2 cup chopped

Dry ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour, (see Ingredient note) or whole-wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Place papers in a 12-cup muffin tin.

Prepare dry ingredients/mix in one bowl.  Whisk eggs, buttermilk, brown sugar, butter, oil and vanilla in a separate bowl until well combined.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Add mango and pecans. Stir just to combine; do not overmix. Transfer batter to the prepared pan. Top with additional pecans, if desired.  Mine were ready in exactly 22 minutes and I think would bake just as well at 375, depending on your oven.

After cooling for at least 20 minutes, split them and pipe the cream cheese into the middle of your moufflet sandwich.  Then, take yourself outside for a lovely walk because, in case you haven't noticed, it's Spring!