Mango-Coconut Bread (Super Moist & Delicious)

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TGIF everyone! (Wow, does anyone still say that these days?..lol) I hope so, because it is absolutely, positively fantastic that today is Friday…and it is my one of my favorite days of the week (coming a close second to Saturday, of course!) Regardless of what may have happened through the week, I break out into huge smiles and my mood becomes euphoric upon waking every Friday morning. My kids suspiciously disappear unnoticed when I get this way, because they know I will embarrass them with the kisses and hugs and the occasional song and dance, but hey…I’m sure I’m allowed an “embarrass your kids free pass” on occasion…..especially if it’s only once (or twice) a week…right? 😉

Mango and grated coconut added to the bread batter.

 Why do I get this way, one might ask! Well it’s because my usually crazy, often hectic and always tiring work-week is over and I get to spend  a beautiful and relaxing Shabbat( which is Hebrew for Sabbath) with my family. This is the time we fellowship and feast with one another, thanking our Creator for His blessings (big or small) through the week and we enjoy just being in His presence. It’s truly a wonderful way to end each week and Marquest and I get ecstatic!! 🙂

Mango-Coconut Bread: Before and After Baking

So in anticipation for today, I baked a wonderful bread yesterday to share with our neighbors (for sharing such heavenly mangoes with us) and I wanted to share this recipe with you. It’s a recipe I actually formulated from scratch, but after doing a google search, I found out that there are a few other variations out there, but I’m confident you’ll be pleased with this one! Marquest and the kids enthusiastically gave it all thumbs ups! (and big-toes too I should add 🙂 ) Although I wasn’t able to eat a piece, (because of gluten sensitivity) I could tell it was definitely a winner and I will definitely be making a gluten-free version very soon.

Moist Mango-Coconut Bread

Mango Coconut Bread

Mango-Coconut Bread Closeup

So Shabbat Shalom everyone! I hope you try out this recipe for a super moist and delicious ‘Mango-Coconut Bread’ and I wish you all a peaceful, joyful and relaxing weekend!

Mango-Coconut Bread

• Servings: 8-10
• Time: 1hr 30mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Author: Bettina Bullard

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup butter, softened at room temperature
• 4 Oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 Cup granulated sugar
• 4 Large eggs
• 1 Tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 Cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• 3½ Tsp. baking powder
• 1 Tsp. salt
• 2 +1/4 Cups pureed ripe mango (hairless)
• 1/2 Cup fresh grated coconut

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and prepare a large loaf pan (about 10″x6″) by greasing and lightly flouring.
2. Mix the sifted flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl or in a stand mixer, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
4. Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition, and then add the vanilla extract.
5. Next add the flour and 2 cups of mango puree in gradually, alternating equally until all have been incorporated evenly.
6. Finally with a spoon or spatula fold in the grated coconut.
7. Pour the thick batter into your prepared loaf pan from one position and very low, to decrease air bubbles.
8. Spread the last 1/4 cup of mango puree on top and swirl with your spatula or a butter knife.
9. Place the pan on the middle rack of your oven and bake at 350 degrees F. for 65-70 minutes or until a wood skewer or butter knife come out clean from the middle.
10. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

BAHAMIAN Mango Duff

Hey guys, hope everyone is doing well! I have a wonderful and delicious recipe I want share with you! If you don’t know already, I run a home-based business along with my Hubs, Marquest, where we bake and deliver our signature pizza and vegetable patties, cakes,cupcakes, pastries, Bahamian Guava Duff and other delicious Bahamian homemade desserts and treats. It’s called, Taste Of Bahamas, formerly Latoya’s Loft. (This name still appears on our Facebook business page since we were unable to change it….oh well!)

Baking and cooking has to be in my blood! I grew up in my grandmother’s house, where every child learned how to help out in the kitchen, and full course meals were prepared to feed an already large extended family… plus the neighbors! 🙂 My maternal grandfather, who’s now 86, was an executive chef and taught me a few tricks up his sleeve. Even my mother, has unexpected house guests show up every time she’s making dinner and believe me, that’s nothing to sneeze at! And don’t let her be making her famous “guava duff” too. Yep, there’s just something about “duff”  (that delicious rum-sauced covered, cake-like boiled dough, swirled with guava or other desired fruit filling) that just makes us locals go bananas! Just like any other recipe, there are many variations, but fortunately for me, I learned from the best…. plus I decided to step it up a notch! 😉

So you all must be thinking, “is her post about this Guava Duff, she keeps mentioning or Mango Duff? I really wanted to show you how I make guava duff, but I just did not have any ripe, fresh guavas on hand (the best to use to make this dessert) so I promise to revisit this another day, hopefully real soon. Instead , this recipe is for Mango Duff. It is made exactly the same way, except for the preparation of the fruit. Like I mentioned earlier, the dough is somewhat cake like, made with basic ingredients like flour, sugar, butter, shortening, milk, eggs and baking powder. The proportions of each ingredient may vary per recipe, but I’ve formulated one that produces a dough that is soft and moist, once cooked, which is what most of us aim to achieve.

Rolled duff dough with mango filling.

Duff wrapped and covered in foil.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take photos of every stage, but once your dough is made, it’s really not that difficult. It’s just a matter of rolling your dough into a rectangle, spreading the fruit and rolling it up similar to how how you make cinnamon rolls….just without cutting it into pieces. Once you’ve rolled it up, you wrap and cover it with parchment and foil, place it in a large turkey sized oven bag that is tied securely, and carefully place it in boiling hot water to cook on both sides. Sounds easy huh? 😉

Duff wrapped, covered in foil and tied.

Duff boiling in hot water.

After the Duff is boiled, you remove it from the hot water, allow it to cool a bit before unwrapping and then slice and serve with an accompanying rum-flavored sweet sauce. (I’ve also provided the recipe for the sauce below)

Mango Duff cooling and ready to be sliced.

Mango Duff slices.

Hope you try this recipe out soon! You won’t regret it! Cheers! 🙂

• Servings: 10
• Time: 1hr 30mins
• Difficulty: intermediate
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Author: Bettina Bullard

Ingredients:

For The Duff:

• 2 Med. hairless mangoes, thinly diced
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 oz unsalted butter, softened
•  2 oz shortening (I used crisco)
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3  Large egg whites (room temp.)
• 1 Large whole egg (room temp.)
• 3½ cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 4 Teaspoons baking powder
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cups milk

For The Mango Rum Sauce:

• 1 Large hairless mango, chopped and pureed
•  8 oz unsalted butter, softened
•  4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 Egg yolks + 2 whole eggs
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup dark or mango flavored rum

Directions:

1. Fill a large wide-bottomed pot or pan midway with hot water and allow to come to a boil on the stove. Turn off heat until ready to boil your dough.
2. Place the thinly diced flesh of the 2 large mangoes in a bowl, blend with the 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Place the sifted flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
4. In a large Mixing bowl and using a wire whisk, cream together the softened butter, crisco and 1/3 cup sugar until smooth.
5. Next, add the egg whites, whole egg and vanilla extract and mix evenly.
6. Gradually stir in the flour into the mixture along with the milk until a soft dough begins to form.
7. Remove the dough from the whisk and continue to form the dough with clean, floured hands, adding more flour or milk until the dough is smooth and pliable. Allow to rest for about 5 minutes.
8. Using a floured rolling pin, gently roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, into a rectangle measuring 13″x 13″.
9. Remove the mango diced mango from the refrigerator and with a slotted spoon, apply the mangoes over the top of the dough, leaving about a ½” space from the edges.
10. Starting at the side closest to you tuck and carefully roll the dough, making sure the mangoes do not spill or push out of the sides.
11. On your last roll, tuck in the sides and pinch the seam firmly to seal.
12. Firmly wrap the dough into an appropriately sized  piece of parchment paper, allowing a small amount of space for the dough to swell, then cover in a piece of heavy duty foil. Make sure all ends are securely sealed.
13. Increase the heat under the hot water to high and allow to come to boil again.
14. Place the wrapped duff into a large, oven-proof turkey bag and roll until all air is removed. Immediately tie with a long string or zip-tie.
15. Once the water has returned to a boil, gently rest the dough flat into the water and with a long spoon, press the top of the duff until it sinks a bit.
16. 16. Set your oven timer and allow to boil for 30 minutes. Turn over carefully, using the string and boil for another 25-30 minutes on the other side.
17. While duff is still boiling, place the ingredients for the sauce in a stand mixer (or you can use a hand mixer) and mix on medium-high until the sauce is light and fluffy. Refrigerate until duff is ready to serve.
18. Once The duff has completed boiling, remove it from the water, being careful not to burn yourself. Untie the string and remove the duff from the turkey bag.(You may have to cut it open)
19. Allow to cool a bit before removing the foil and parchment.
20. 20. Serve the Duff slices while still warm and apply the sauce generously on top.

  Note: Recipe makes a small Duff, but can be doubled to make a larger size (cook time will increase by a half hour.)

Apple Pie French Toast Roll-Ups

Good Morning everybody, So what did the kids want for Breakfast this morning?…. French Toast! Yaayyy!….nope scratch that!  Boooo…..that’s more like it! Alright, alright, there may be a lot you guys out there who “love” French Toast (like my kids….and hubby….and oh yeah, the dogs!) but I’m not a big fan! Maybe the idea of soaking up bread in eggs, just doesn’t tickle my fancy, but who am I to rain on anyone’s “French toast parade”. Besides, I’ve been waiting for the chance to experiment with the “roll-up” versions I’ve seen while Pinterest browsing and WOW..were there many versions!

To be honest, I didn’t really didn’t decide to make any of the versions that I saw (only because I didn’t have any of the ingredients on hand) but I did have some apples. I immediately thought of using a few to make an Apple filling and voila….there you have it….“Apple Pie French Toast Roll-Ups”! (If someone has already made these babies, then I won’t be surprised. These days, it’s hard to find something that hasn’t already been done. Well, you know what I mean! 😉

So first I finely diced up two apples and cooked them with a little sugar and cinnamon to make a tasty filling. After putting that aside to cool, I made a quick and easy *homemade cinnamon syrup (We never use store bought) and put that aside to cool and thicken. (Simple really, and I’ve also added the recipe for that below) I then took some bread slices, we had on hand (Special Blend) and I stretched or flattened them out a tiny bit larger with a rolling pin.

 

 Next I spooned some of the filling onto the bottom end of the flattened bread (notice I didn’t remove the crust) and proceeded to roll them up carefully, without spilling any of the apple.  Really, it only took about 2 rolls! I made them all up quickly and set them aside while I got the egg mixture ready.

 

 

I made a simple mixture of eggs, milk, a dash of salt, cinnamon and vanilla and heated up my frying pan on medium high with a pat or two of butter. After that was smooth sailing…gently dipping the roll-ups in the egg mixture…. rolling it to cover the other side….placing them carefully in the hot pan……allIowing them to cook and brown nicely on both sides before removing them from the pan. I must say the routine was very relaxing!!  But aren’t all forms of cooking and baking? Well…it is for me! 😉

Just look at those apple-filled, scrumptious looking, French Toast roll-ups heh! Like we locals love to say, ” Well sookie sookie nah…please, (insert favorite compliments here!) Ain’t those some delicious lookin’ thingamajigs!! Lol!  Okay, let’s just say they came out alright indeed! Plus the kids approved, and that was good enough for me! Also, I must admit, I really wanted to take a bite too, so I just might make these gluten-free and give them a try. Who Knows? 😉

• Servings: Makes 10 Roll-Ups
• Time: 30mins
• Difficulty: easy
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Author: Bettina Bullard

Ingredients

For The Apple Filling:

· 2-3 Large apples, peeled

·  1/4 cup Granulated sugar

· 2 Tsp. Cinnamon

· 1 Tbsp. Cornstarch*

· 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla extract

For The Cinnamon Syrup: 

· 3/4 cup Granulated sugar

· 1/4 cup Lt. brown sugar

· 1/2 cup water

· 1 Tsp. Cinnamon (or 1 inch pc. Cinnamon stick)

For The French Toast Roll-Ups:

· 10 Slices of bread ( with or without crust)

· Butter for frying **

· 5 eggs

· 1/4 cup milk

· 2 Tsp. Cinnamon

· A dash of salt

· 1 Tsp. Vanilla extract

Directions

To Make The Syrup:

1. In a small saucepan, place the sugars, water and cinnamon ( or stick) and put over very low heat.

2. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir the mixture continuously, until all of the sugar has completely dissolved.  Do not allow the mixture to boil. This should take about 3-5 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and immediately transfer the syrup into a cool dish or container for pouring and set aside. The syrup will thicken as it cools.

To Make The Apple Filling:

1. Peel, core and finely dice the apples.

2. Transfer into a medium saucepan and add the rest of the ingredients except the cornstarch.

3. Cook on medium-high for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

4. If the mixture seems too runny, then add the cornstarch. If not, then you can leave it out.

5. Once apple mixture is soft and thickened, take of heat and transfer into a dish, for easy preparation of roll-ups.

To Prepare French Toast Roll-Ups:

1. Thoroughly combine the eggs, milk, cinnamon, salt and vanilla in a bowl and set aside.

2. Using a rolling pin, flatten and stretch each slice of bread until a bit wider in size.

3. Spoon the apple filling onto the widest ends of the bread slices, without getting too close to the sides.

4. Tuck over and roll the bread about two times and secure the ends by pinching firmly. Repeat until all slices have been filled and place on a flat dish.

5. Heat your frying pan on medium with the butter or oil, making sure the entire surface is evenly covered.

6. Carefully dip the rolled-up bread slices in the egg mixture, turning to coat the other side and place in the hot pan. Repeat until you have 4-5 roll-ups in the pan.

7. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side or until nicely browned. Repeat with the next batch.

8. Serve the Apple Pie French Toast roll-ups immediately. Top with extra apple filling if desired, and cinnamon syrup.

Notes:

* If you do not have cornstarch, all-purpose flour can be used as a substitute.

** I prefer to use clarified butter or coconut oil to make French Toast or pancakes for flavor, but you can substitute for vegetable oil or nut based oils.

SUGAR FREE MANGO-LIME JAM

Happy SATURDAY everyone! Here in the Bahamas, “Mango season” is in full swing and everybody in this busy household loooovessss mangoes! Hairy mangoes, hairless mangoes, juicy mangoes, green mangoes (yep even the green ones), little ones and huge ones (what we call mangolas). It really doesn’t matter what, shape, color or size! If there are mangoes, we will find something to do with them.

But unfortunately, our mangola trees didn’t bare at all this year. We really didn’t expect it to, it being the Shemitah year and all, but even last year was kind of so-so too(at least for us) . Strange enough, only one side of our tree grew mangoes and trust me, they didn’t last very long either!

Last Year’s Mangolas

Thank God, my neighbors also has a huge mangola tree, and boy did their tree bare a motherload!! (and I’m not kidding either) I don’t know why, but I’m not complaining! Especially because they are awesome neighbors and their tree is like our tree. Plus, Mrs. Thompson (That’s her name), stopped by a few days ago and brought us two huge bags worth and I could’ve sworn I’d died and gone to “Mangola heaven”.  Instantly, my brain went into overdrive dreaming up all the goodies I could make with such a bounty. (That’s if my pesky kids and hubby didn’t eat them all first)

The first thing I thought of (as my mouth was full of a juicy mango) was to make mango jam! I quickly took about 8 of the the mangolas that were really ripe and full of juice to set aside for my jam-making and continued to devour my own. Yum! After eating another mango or two….or three, (heck..who’s counting), I went to work making the most delicious, sugar-free jam that I knew the whole family would enjoy.

Chopped Mango Flesh

So if you get your hands on a good lot of these delicious mangolas this season, give this jam a try and enjoy a bit of mango heaven!

• Servings: About 2 ½ Pints
• Time: 1hr 30mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Author: Bettina Bullard

Sugar Free Mango-Lime Jam

Ingredients:

· 3-4 pounds peeled and diced mango (hairless)

· 1/2 cup lime juice

Instructions:

1. Using a blender or food processor, puree the mango in separate batches until medium thick in consistency. (You do not want it too thin)

2. Place the mango and the lime juice into a preserving pan and bring mixture to a boil.

3. Reduce the heat to medium high and allow to simmer, stirring frequently for about 20 minutes.

4. Raise the heat and and cook the jam (again stirring frequently) until thick and a drop mounds on a chilled dish.

5. Ladle the jam into pint or half-pint mason jars and refrigerate.

Notes: Jam can be preserved by processing jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.