Groovy Recipe: Mango-Ginger Muffins

BD and I started a Mother Hubbard challenge last weekend.  The goal is to use all of the items we have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer before we go grocery shopping again.  So far, so good.  We have a bunch of stuff in the freezer that I'd completely forgotten about!  I'll write up the experience once we've finished.

On Sunday, I was in the mood to bake, and I knew we'd need an easy breakfast for the coming week.  Muffins!  I thought we'd had blueberries in the freezer, but that was the one thing the freezer did not contain. I spied a bag of frozen mango chunks and the hamster wheel in my head started turning.  A poke around the refrigerator revealed a small jar of minced ginger.  Aha!  This is what I churned out:

Mango-Ginger Muffins

*yield 12 muffins (actually, more like 16)

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup oil or melted butter

1 cup chopped mango

1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger

2 teaspoons vanilla

A healthy dash of nutmeg

A healthy dash of cinnamon

Topping

1/4 cup raw sugar (or regular...whatever you have)

1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 400.  Spray your muffin tin(s) lightly with cooking spray (or use paper liners).

Whisk together the topping ingredients and set aside.

Whisk together the flours, flax, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and oil.  Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with just a few swift strokes.  Stir in the mango and ginger.  Don't over mix your batter!  This leads to dry, dense, yucky muffins.  Your batter will be lumpy - this is what you want.

Evenly distribute the batter among the muffin cups.  I filled mine about 3/4 full and got nicely fluffed muffins.  You can do 2/3 full and still get a good-sized muffin (and that would stretch the batter to at least another 2 muffins, for a total of 18).  Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the batter.

Bake for 15-20 minutes (check them after 15 minutes!).  A toothpick should come out clean if they're done.

Cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then serve or remove from pan and cool completely before storing in a covered container.  Eat within 5 days for best taste.

They are so yummy!  If you're a ginger freak like me, you can easily add an extra tablespoon minced ginger to the batter.  The sugary topping really makes the muffin, in my opinion, so please don't omit it!  My picky Babydoll ate a whole one in just a couple of minutes.  That alone tells me that this recipe is a winner.