. I am really a mango girl but they run to seasons, so I can't eat the local ones that are worth eating year-round. Local papaya on the other hand is usually readily available, but I never find myself doing much more than eating half with a squeeze of lime and sometimes a scoop of yogurt or cottage cheese for breakfast. I loved the idea of baking it, along with the banana into tropical muffins. I thought it would be fun to have some kind of fruity spread to smear on the muffins and found a recipe for
in a Caribbean cookbook that I picked up on a business trip to Puerto Rico. With the papaya and banana in the muffins and the fresh pineapple and lime in the cream cheese spread, I had a heavenly tropical fruit fest going on--perfect for breakfast on the lanai or an afternoon snack.
Vanderhoof says, "This recipe is a solution to the problem of too much tropical fruit. These muffins have lovely color and flavor, and are nice and moist."
Papaya-Banana Muffins
by Ann Vanderhoof for "An Embarrassment of Mangoes"
(Makes 12) Actually made 9 for me ;-)
1 2/3 cups flour (I used light spelt flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (+ I added 1/4 tsp cinnamon)
1 egg
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar (I reduced to 1/2 cup organic sugar)
1 cup mashed ripe papaya
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (1 large banana)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 375 F. and grease a medium-sized muffin pan or line it with muffin papers.
Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Beat egg with oil, sugar, and mashed papaya and banana in a large bowl. Mix in dry ingredients and walnuts (if using). Scoop mixture into prepared muffin pan. Bake in preheated oven for 18-23 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
Ann's Tips:
- If the papaya is quite ripe, it will yield a lot of liquid when mashed. Drain off this excess liquid before adding the fruit.
Pineapple Cream Cheese (Makes about 1 1/4 cups)
1/2 cup fresh-diced pineapple
just of 1 lime
1/2 tsp lime zest (I used the zest of the entire lime)
6 oz cream cheese (I used vegan cream cheese)
Fold the pineapple, lime juice and zest into the cream cheese with a pastry cutter or fork.
Notes/Results: Wonderful, moist and flavorful muffins--like a more complex banana muffin, and lightly flecked with the orange papaya. They are excellent on their own and topped with the Pineapple Cream Cheese they are amazing. I used up some light spelt flour that I had on hand in these and reduced the sugar since my papaya and banana (
I used two smaller apple bananas) were very ripe and sweet. I left out the nuts and added some cinnamon because I like it with my nutmeg. One note--I filled my muffin cups about 3/4 full and only ended up with nine muffins instead of a dozen--so fill them less I guess if you want the full dozen. The Pineapple Cream Cheese is a revelation--the pineapple and lime are like a little party on the tongue--Yum! I had some leftover Tofutti vegan cream cheese so I used it and it was fabulous--soft and creamy and full of fruit flavor. Living here in Hawaii I like to have fun treats around when I have house guests staying with me--things like lilikoi butter for toast, mango jam, or different tropical fruits to try, so both of these recipes will be made again and again.
Our deadline for reading and posting a dish for "
An Embarrassment of Mangoes" is this Friday, March 25th. As host, I'll be doing a round up of all the entries over the weekend at the
Cook the Books site and then our judge for this round, our wonderful author Ann Vanderhoof, will be selecting her favorite entry. If you didn't get a chance to join in this round,
our April/May pick is " Lunch in Paris " by Elizabeth Bard and will be hosted by Johanna of
Food Junkie Not Junk Food.
There were many recipes to choose from in the book but I kept going back to the Papaya-Banana Muffins. I am really a mango girl but they run to seasons, so I can't eat the local ones that are worth eating year-round. Local papaya on the other hand is usually readily available, but I never find myself doing much more than eating half with a squeeze of lime and sometimes a scoop of yogurt or cottage cheese for breakfast. I loved the idea of baking it, along with the banana into tropical muffins. I thought it would be fun to have some kind of fruity spread to smear on the muffins and found a recipe for Pineapple Cream Cheese in a Caribbean cookbook that I picked up on a business trip to Puerto Rico. With the papaya and banana in the muffins and the fresh pineapple and lime in the cream cheese spread, I had a heavenly tropical fruit fest going on--perfect for breakfast on the lanai or an afternoon snack.
Pineapple Cream Cheese
Notes/Results: Wonderful, moist and flavorful muffins--like a more complex banana muffin, and lightly flecked with the orange papaya. They are excellent on their own and topped with the Pineapple Cream Cheese they are amazing. I used up some light spelt flour that I had on hand in these and reduced the sugar since my papaya and banana (I used two smaller apple bananas) were very ripe and sweet. I left out the nuts and added some cinnamon because I like it with my nutmeg. One note--I filled my muffin cups about 3/4 full and only ended up with nine muffins instead of a dozen--so fill them less I guess if you want the full dozen. The Pineapple Cream Cheese is a revelation--the pineapple and lime are like a little party on the tongue--Yum! I had some leftover Tofutti vegan cream cheese so I used it and it was fabulous--soft and creamy and full of fruit flavor. Living here in Hawaii I like to have fun treats around when I have house guests staying with me--things like lilikoi butter for toast, mango jam, or different tropical fruits to try, so both of these recipes will be made again and again.