tropical fruit muffins

My uncle UJ was posted by his company to Manila, Philippines for a few years. His posting ended recently and he is now back in Singapore. When he was in Manila, each time he came back for a visit, without fail he will give us packets of dried mangoes.

Other than eating the dried mangoes on their own, I like to use the dried mangoes in my baking. When added to the bread dough, cake batter or muffin batter, the dried mangoes give a lovely flavour. Add some mango essence to the batter and you are in tropical fruit heaven.

For this recipe, I used a mixture of dried mangoes and dried pineapple. Instead of the usual vanilla essence, I substitute it with mango essence. As an alternative, you may want to add orange essence instead - it complements the dried mangoes and dried pineapple as well.

INGREDIENTS

250g self-raising flour
125g butter (softened)
115g castor sugar
2 eggs
125g Philadelphia cream cheese (softened)
1 tsp mango essence
1/4 cup dried mangoes (chopped)
1/4 cup dried pineapples (chopped)
3/4 cup low fat milk

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Line the muffin pans with paper muffin cups. Set aside.

3. Sift the self-raising flour in a bowl. Set aside.

4. Cream the butter and castor sugar in a mixing bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

5. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well with each addition.

6. Add the cream cheese and mango essence and mix well.

7. Stir in the dried mangoes and dried pineapple using a wooden spatula.

8. Fold in the sifted flour and mix until almost blended.

9. Add the milk and stir until just blended.

10. Fill the muffin cases until almost full.

11. Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.