MANGO MUFFINS WITH RUM

Delicious, delicious! I made these last month and still have a few tucked away “for the man” in the freezer. 

Dried mango slices chopped and soaked in premium Jamaican rum was the beginning of these yummy muffins with none of the soaking liquid wasted. Booze is not my friend, but I tolerate it in baking. Not that I ate more than one due to my latest curse, an all encompassing milk protein allergy. The taste of coconut and almond milk despised, a muffin here and there with dairy is worth the pain. The least distinct milk substitute is oat milk, but you can’t whip oat. Not much krémes or somlói for me. 

On a side note, our world tends to celebrate the wrong people. Entertainers and the rich and famous are the bomb. How many Nobel Prize winners can we name? That is why l am so pleased Karikó Katalin winning the Nobel Prize! First and foremost a Hungarian’s researcher makes it possible to bring the Pandemic under control. Then there is the promise mRNA will be used against cancer and allergies. How wonderful is that?

Mango Muffins with Rum 

 2/3 cup dry mango, diced 

1/3 cup dark rum 

1/4 cup soft butter 

4 Tbsp oil 

3/4 cup sugar 

2 eggs 

2 3/4 cups flour 

1 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 cup 3.25 % buttermilk 

1/2 cup 14% sour cream 

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 

• Soak the diced dry mango in rum for an hour or longer. 

• Preheat oven to 425F. 

• Line a muffin tin with large size parchment liners. 

• Add soft butter, oil, sugar, eggs, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a beater bowl and beat until fluffy. 

• In a measuring cup whisk together the sour cream and the buttermilk and the lemon juice. 

• Alternating, gradually add the lour and the sour cream mixture to the butter mixture and stir it with a wooden spoon to combine. [From here on end don’t beat the batter] 

• Add the rum soaked mango with the remaining rum to the batter. 

• Divide the batter in the prepared muffin tin. 

• Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes. 

• Reduce heat to 400F and bake 12 minutes longer.

• Test for doneness and bake it 2-3 minutes longer if needed. 

• Remove the muffin tin from the oven and place it on a wire rack.

STRAWBERRY SCONES

with dried strawberries and heavy cream

I was never a fan of scones, I think I made it once… years ago. I found it dry and even drier cooled down. Then yesterday I made a search for a biscuit with dried strawberries, the dried strawberries I had were to expire in a month. What I found were cookies, so I switched my search to scones. Valla! There were so many versions of the same recipe… where it started…who the heck knows. The ingredient list was the same except for the chatter, the photos the whatnot…and of course the adds. You scroll and scroll and begin to wonder, is there even a recipe? 

Not that you needed one more, but here is MY version. There is no need for super cold ingredients and mine reads more like a biscuit than a scone. All you need for it is a food processor. Without it, attempt it at your own peril. But boy this one is even more delectable than my Biscuit Deluxe, and yes it will be still pretty good the following morning if you store it in a plastic bag. But then again it may all go at first sitting. 

Strawberry Scones 

Scones:

2 cups flour 

2 heaping Tbsp sugar 

1 Tbsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp salt 

1/3 cup cold butter 

2/3 cup heavy cream, 33 to 35 % 

1 egg 

small amount 3.25% buttermilk for topping up 

1/2 cup dried strawberries, diced 

Eggwash: 

1 egg 

1 Tbsp milk 

• Turn the oven to 400F and line a cookie tin with parchment paper. 

• Use the butter, whipping cream, egg and the buttermilk right out of the fridge. 

• Place the cold butter, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the food processor and pulse it 3-4 times.

• Transfer flour mixture to a large mixing bowl. 

• Next add the whipping cream and the egg to a measuring cup and top it up to exactly 1 cup with buttermilk. 

• Using a fork stir to combine. 

• Add the cream mixture to the flour mixture. 

• With a wooden spoon stir just to combine. 

• Add the diced dried strawberries. 

• Using your hands bring the mixture into a ball and place it on a clean flat surface. 

• By hand or a rolling pin flatten dough to 1 1/2 inch thickness. 

• Transfer the rounds to the prepared baking sheet. 

• To make the egg wash, beat together an egg with a tablespoon of milk and brush the scones with it generously. 

• Place the scones in a preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes. 

• Serve the scones right out of the oven. The texture and the flavor of these scones are so lovely, they don’t even need butter. 

• Once the scones cool to room temperature, place them in a clean plastic bag for the night. Next morning heat up the leftovers in the microwave and enjoy.