Here’s a unique sweet bread recipe: Mango Gingerbread with Macadamia Streusel
This isn’t a holiday sort of cake in any sense. When I spotted this recipe in an old Bon Appetit, I tucked it away into my ‘must make soon’ file. Anything that sounds just a little strange-but-wonderful gets tucked into that file. Fresh pureed mango is incorporated into a gingery flavored sweet bread that is scattered throughout with roasted macadamia nuts:
If you’re expecting a bread infused with the wonderful, tropical flavor of mango, this isn’t it. The mango simply works as a ‘moisturizer’ much the same way that applesauce does in cakes. Added buttermilk helps with the tenderness as well. The whole cake only has 1/4 cup of canola oil in it.
This bite gives you a sneak peak of how moist the bread is. Heavy on the ginger flavor, this cake-like bread is topped with a mixture of macadamias, sugar and crystallized ginger. If you don’t care much for a heavy ginger flavor, I would suggest nixing the crystallized ginger on top.
We like it best with a smidgen of sweetened whipped cream.
Mango Gingerbread with Macadamia Streusel
Prep Time:25 minutes
Cook Time:45 minutes
Ingredients:
STREUSEL:
- 1/3 cup finely chopped lightly salted dry-roasted macadamia nuts
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 2 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
GINGERBREAD:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 2 large eggs
Directions:
- Prepare streusel: Stir all ingredients in small bowl to blend.
- Prepare gingerbread: Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 9x9x2-inch metal baking pan.
- Whisk first 6 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Coarsely puree mangoes in food processor. Transfer 1 cup mango puree to large bowl (reserve any remaining puree for another use). Add buttermilk, oil and eggs to puree; whisk until blended. Add flour mixture; stir just until combined.
- Transfer half of batter (about 2 cups) to prepared pan. Sprinkle half of streusel over. Spoon remaining batter over, smooth evenly with spatula, then sprinkle with remaining streusel.
- Bake bread until springy to touch and tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut bread into 9 squares and serve.
