My friend Anna of Snacking in the Kitchen invited some friends over to her house to show off some banana recipes. We could showcase our own creations or use existing recipes, as long as bananas were featured. Dole provided us with some banana goodies (a banana protector), recipes and marketing campaign materials on bananas as the new power bar. As a seasoned and slow marathon/half marathon wogger, I agree. At the end of a race, I have been known to utter "Screw the medal, give me my banana". It is true. Bananas are great food for recovery, but I'm not sure I would carry one for 13 miles.
Other dishes included - banana nutella pie, cheese!, Banana cakes with brown sugar glaze, banana chicken salad, chocolate chip banana bread and curried bananas (not pictured).
While Dole provided some promotional goodies, we were responsible for buying our own bananas. Oh what to make? I knew that I wanted to bake something that would serve as a breakfast food, not too sweet and would be portable enough for TH to take to work in the morning.
I decided to make muffins. Muffins that would remind me of great trips of the past to Hawaii. I immediately though of the Maloa'a Fruit Stand on Kauai, where you can get all sorts of great fruit smoothies and baked goods on the way to the taro fields of Hanalei. Coconut would definitely be a flavor component. I polled my friends who agreed that shredded coconut would be too sweet, but coconut milk would impart a good flavor, so that is what I tried. It turned out to be pretty tasty with just the coconut taste coming from the oil and milk.
With further aplomb, here is my creation. Thank you Anna for including me in your Banana Challenge!
Banana Coconut Mango Muffins
Makes 18 regular sized muffins or 12 large muffins
Note: I used frozen mango chunks and diced them while they were still frozen. This makes it much easier and neater. Here is a great video from allrecipes.com that will show you how to slice, chop and dice a fresh mango if you are that way inclined.
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour (I used 2 cups all purpose and 1/2 cup whole wheat)
1 cup mashed ripe banana (two large bananas)
1 cup diced mango
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, blended
1/2 cup coconut milk (I used TJ's coconut milk beverage, but you could use
light coconut milk)
1/4 fluid cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
1 t vanilla extract
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter muffin pan or use paper muffin liners in the pan for easier cleanup.
In a large bowl, blend together dry ingredients until well mixed. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, sugar,vanilla, banana, coconut milk and oil.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, add diced mango and mix until combined, being sure to use spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl to get all dry ingredients incorporated. Do not overmix batter.
With a spoon, drop batter into muffin tins or liners, fill to only 2/3 full.
Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool on rack and serve either warm or cool.
Store leftover muffins in a zip lock bag for up to 3 days.