MANGO BLONDIES

When I saw that the We Should Cocoa Challenge for this month, hosted by Shaheen of Allotment 2 Kitchen, was to bake with chocolate and mango, I was sure that I would not be taking part.  I’m not really a mango kind of person.

I do like mangoes, but I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have bought a mango in the last five years, maybe even ten years.  Then I remembered a bag of dried mango lurking in the cupboard, left over from baking a cake using “exotic dried fruits”.  As I was looking at it I remembered baking cranberry blondies a couple of years ago and wondered if I could use the dried mango instead of dried cranberries.  It was worth a try anyway.  Blondies are essentially brownies made with white chocolate instead of dark chocolate.

My original recipe makes a lot of cake so I hunted around and came across this one on the Stork website, which I thought I could adapt quite easily. It makes a smaller cake and is also quick to make.

The recipe states a baking time of 35-45 minutes.  My cake was slightly overdone after 35 and I was a bit annoyed with myself for not checking after 30.  The phone rang and I forgot until the timer beeped.  Still, although it was a bit crozzled at the edges it was still nice.  The cake was moist and crumbly and it was nice to get a bit of chocolate and chewy fruit with every mouthful.

I’m not sure I would rush out and by white chocolate and dried mango to make it again, but it was an easy cake to make and a nice change to have with a cuppa in the afternoon.

So it’s thanks again to Choclette of Chocolate Log blog, and Chele of Chocolate Teapot, for thinking up the We Should Cocoa Challenge in the first place.  Also to Shaheen for being this month’s host.  You can read the details here.

Ingredients

115g Stork block margarine

115g caster sugar

2 medium eggs

125g plain flour

200g white chocolate, chopped, or chocolate chips (I used half of each, as that’s what I had in stock)

115g dried mango pieces

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C / 170° fan / gas mk 5.  Grease and line the base of an 18cm square baking tin, or similar.

Put the Stork into a small saucepan and melt over gentle heat.  Remove from the heat and stir in half of the chopped chocolate, reheating as necessary, until the chocolate has melted in and the mixture is nice and smooth.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar with an electric whisk until thickened and creamy.  Sift over the flour and fold in with the chocolate mixture.

Add half of the remaining chocolate and half of the dried mango.  Stir gently until combined and pour the mixture into the baking tin. 

Scatter the remaining chocolate and mango over the top and bake for 30-35 minutes until nicely golden.  Remove from the oven and cool in the tin.  Cut into squares when cold.

Makes 16 small blondies.