Mango-ginger muffins with cashew-coconut streusel

We've all heard of drunk dialing and drunk texting...but sleep dialing?

The other night My Dear Little Cardamummy gave me a call. Nothing truly out of the usual...except she's currently back in India and our usual routine is to chat on Sunday mornings, unless something's wrong.

No, nothing was wrong.

She told me of the trip to the Ashram, how uncle was doing, visiting the book store, how My Big Strong Cardapoppy parked under a tree and the car was covered in copious amounts of bird poo.

I couldn't get a word in edgewise. I didn't expect to, so I just listend.

From her voice I could tell she wasn't quite awake, but awake enough to dial me. It was about 7am her time, so she probably rolled out of bed and reached for the phone.

At the end of her 15 minute one-woman show she asked me how things were. I wished her a happy Mother's Day. She thanked me and launched into a shorter soliloquy about mangoes.

"There are so many mangoes in our trees. They are falling everywhere."

"And falling on your head?"

"And making me grow short."

So there you have it. Mum's ever-shrinking stature is now being blamed on over-ripe fruit hurtling towards the ground, with only her own self cushioning their fall.

Needless to say I'm not spending Mother's day with My Dear Little Cardamummy, but I am thinking of her. Those ripe mangoes, squelching with sweet juices--along with the flavours that compliment them so well-inspired this week's breakfast baking.

These mango-ginger muffins topped with cashew coconut streusel are easy to pull together. You don't need fresh mangoes for these and can use frozen or tinned fruit (in fact, unless you live in an area where they grow, you may be better off to buy frozen or tinned). Serve them warm with a bit of butter and a hot cup of tea.

Mango-ginger muffins with cashew-coconut streusel

Yield 12 muffins

Ingredients

for the streusel topping

50g (125ml/0.5c) chopped cashews

25g (60ml/0.25g) shredded coconut

50g (60ml/0.25c) brown sugar

35g (60ml/0.25c) all purpose flour

2Tbsp (30ml) soft butter

for the muffins

210g (375ml/1.5c) all purpose flour

1tsp (5ml) baking powder

1tsp (5ml) bicarbonate of soda

0.75tsp (3ml)ground ginger

0.25tsp(1ml) salt

100g (125ml/0.5c) sugar

55g (0.25c) butter

3Tbsp (45ml) flavourless oil

60ml (0.25c) yoghurt

1 egg, beaten

225g (250ml/1c) diced mango

Method

Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Line a 12-bowl muffin tin with papers.

Make the streusel by rubbing the butter into the rest of the streusel ingredients. Set aside.

For the muffins, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger and salt. Set aside

Mix together the sugar, butter, oil, egg and yoghurt. Mix into the dry ingredients until about half combined--there will be clumps of flour and clumps of wet. You just want to get the mixing process started. Fold in the chopped mango until everything is just mixed. Do not aim for a smooth cake batter.

Divide into the papered bowls. Top with streusel mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden and an inserted skewer escapes with a few crumbs clinging to it.

Notes:

• You can use fresh, frozen or tinned mangoes. If you are using tinned, use a 398ml tin, drained of syrup.
• If you don't have raw cashews, but have roasted ones, simply rinse the salt off those and use them instead.
• You can substitute almonds or pistachios for cashews

cheers!
jasmine
I'm a quill for hire!

Red Prince apples: Apple scones

Disclosure: The apples used in this recipe were provided by the grower.

When my friend Peter of Martin's Fruit Farms told me he had a prince of a prezzie for me, how could I not be intrigued?

What arrived was a series of white hat boxes bound by a festive red ribbon, reminiscent of St. Bride's spire. And inside? A package to help celebrate the marriage of William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge: gilded caramel apple chocolate truffles, apple scones and five gorgeous Red Prince apples.

I've heard a lot about these apples as of late--lasciviously rouged, white flesh and sweet-tart flesh, delicious both eaten out of hand and baked.

So I tried one.

Fabulous red wrap. Juicy. Sweet with a bit of sharpness.

Remind you of anyone?

I must admit while the truffles were nice, I really wasn't enamoured with the enclosed scones. The accompanying recipe promised light and moist treats, but the moistness of the samples were from being underbaked. Not necessarily a good thing.

That said, I could tell the apples had kept their shape, texture and flavour. So I did what any self-respecting home baker would do: I baked up my own batch, based on my go-to recipe by Tamasin Day-Lewis..

The results? Lovely, light and golden scones, flecked with red and filled with apply goodness. Perfect warm, slathered with butter or a shwoosh of double Devon cream.

More information about Red Prince apples, including recipes, health benefits and an FAQ can be found on on RedPrinceApple.ca.

Apple Scones

Adapted from scone recipes by Tamasin Day-Lewis and the official Red Prince apple web site.

Yield 9-24, depending upon cutter size

Ingredients
170g (1.66c) baking apple, skin-on, finely chopped (1 apple)
25g (2Tbsp) sugar plus more for sprinkling
1Tbsp lemon juice
1 egg
a splash of milk or cream
450g (3.25c/1lb) all purpose flour
0.5tsp salt
1dspn (2tsp) cream of tartar
1dspn (2tsp) bicarbonate of soda
0.5tsp cinnamon
75g (0.33c) cold, unsalted butter (frozen preferred)
310ml (1.25c) yoghurt

Method
Preheat oven to 210C/425F. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil.

Mix chopped apple with lemon juice and 2Tbsp sugar and set aside.

Make an egg wash by beating the egg with cream. Set aside.

Sift together flour, cream of tartar, bicarb, salt and cinnamon. Grate and then rub butter into the flour mixture. Gently fold in yoghurt and apple pieces, without overworking the dough. Press into a 3.5-4cm/1.5" thick rectangle and cut out rounds of whichever size you prefer.

Transfer rounds to a baking tray, allowing 2.5-4cm (1"-1.5") between each. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Let rise for 10 minutes.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. The scones will be a warm golden colour and the interiors should be flaky and moist, without being damp.

cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!

Dessert for Breakfast: Breakfast Berry Crisp

The difference a week makes.

The sun shone last Sunday, the temps were within spitting distance of 20C and the plants in my little front garden were poking through the soil.

Today's clouds block the sun, the mercury barely touches the freezing point and I can almost see little green shoots for the lightest dusting of snow.

Welcome to spring in southwestern Ontario.

A week ago I was bouncing about the place, filled with energy, tackling a number of housey projects I've either put off or have been too busy to tend to.

Today I'm bundled in blankets with a cold little nose and a voice that can't decide if it really should be with Marcel Marceau or Bonnie Tyler: when it exists, it's as raspy as if I've lived a life deserving of whisky and cigarettes.

Last week I wanted a barely sweet crisp. This week I still want a crisp, but I want something on the syrupier side of things. I want to remind myself that summer will arrive with punnets of berries, bursting with colour and sweet juices.

We're not quite in the nadir of local berries, but we may as well be. In a few weeks (okay a few months) I'll be at Herrle's, deciding which containers of fruit will be mine. But now, I'm at the bigscarymegamart, poking through transparent clamshells of underripe, trucked fruit more reminiscent of vinegar than of honey.

Many mornings I breakfast on some combination of yoghurt, fruit and granola. Today when I stood before my fridge's cavernous belly I had a difficult choice to make: use the fruit for breakfast or for a crisp.

Then I asked myself: why choose?

Many crisps are simply fruit stewed under an oatmeal crust. A main ingredient of my homemade granola is rolled oats. Why not top my crisp with unbaked granola?

Why not have this granola-topped crisp for breakfast, with a dollop of yoghurt and a drizzle of honey?

Given the pancakes for supper precedent many of us enjoy, why not? More to the point...given how many people have thinly disguised cakes as muffins for breakfast, why not granola-topped stewed fruit for breakfast?

The result? Well, I'd eat it for breakfast and dessert.

Breakfast Berry Crisp
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
for the fruit:
600g (1L/4c) mixed berries
50g (0.25c) brown sugar (or more, depending upon how sweet the fruit is)
2dspn (1.5Tbsp) cornflour (cornstarch)
the juice of one orange

For the topping:
60g (0.5c) rolled oats
40g (0.3c) sweet desiccated coconut
20g (2Tbsp) pumpkin seeds
20g (2Tbsp) sunflower seeds
20g (2Tbsp) sliced almonds
25g (2Tbsp) brown sugar
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg
0.5tsp cinnamon
0.25tsp ground ginger
3Tbsp maple syrup
2Tbsp soft butter
0.5tsp vanilla
yoghurt and honey for serving

Method
Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Butter a 2.5L (11c) baking dish.

Mix fruit with 50g brown sugar, cornflour and orange juice. Tip into the prepared baking dish.

Mix the topping ingredients together, rubbing in the butter, to make a nubbly, rubbly topping. Strew onto the fruit.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the fruit blurbles and boils and the the topping has turned a golden brown.

Serve warm or cold with yoghurt and honey (or sweetened whipped cream or ice cream).


cheers!

jasmine

I'm a quill for hire!