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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Vegan Mango Banana Bread

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Recently, mangoes have been dirt cheap at the grocery store. When they’re less than fifty cents, I can’t resist picking up a few. The problem is, if given the choice, I will always choose the least high-maintenance fruit to eat (unless it’s watermelon. Watermelon always wins, no matter how long it takes me to chop the thing up!). Mangoes are one of my favorite fruits, but also one of the most frustrating. Not only do I stink at cutting them, but it frustrates me to no end that they have such a large and inedible pit.

I suppose if large mango pits are my biggest problem in life, I’ve got it pretty good, huh? 

The point is, I frequently find myself with mangoes sitting for days on end in my kitchen, waiting for me to overcome my laziness (or convince my studly husband to cut them for me!). Then one day, I stumbled upon this mango banana bread on Joy’s blog. For whatever reason, it spoke to me. Suddenly, I was motivated to grab a mango and get to work, peeling, slicing, and dicing.

I’m not vegan, but I occasionally find myself out of eggs (usually after making several batches of ice cream), so I will definitely be holding on to this recipe for those days. I almost always have five or six frozen ripe bananas in my freezer, so this bread will be made again and again. You could easily adapt the mix-ins, but as for me, I’ve found my mango motivation! This just might be one of my favorite quick breads ever (and that’s quite a statement because my list of them is rather long!).

One Year Ago: Okra Fries (this year we're growing our own okra...mostly so we can make these on a regular basis!)

Vegan Mango Banana Bread
adapted slightly from Joy the Baker
*makes 1 (9x5) loaf or 2 mini loaves

Ingredients:
-3 medium or 2 large ripe bananas
-1/4 cup vegetable oil
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-2 tsp pure vanilla extract
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-1 cup whole-wheat flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp ground ginger
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 ripe mango, sliced into chunks

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan (or 2 mini pans) and set aside.
2. Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in sugar, oil, and vanilla extract.
3. Sift in the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt, mixing just until combined. Fold in mango pieces.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan(s). Bake for 45-55 minutes (or 25-35 for mini loaves), until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
5. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes in the pan before removing and cooling completely on a wire rack.
*Wrap bread and store at room temperature for up to 5 days