There are a lot of people in this world. As a food blogger, I am aware that most likely there are people out there that don't like my recipes. However, I do not ponder on that, we can't please everyone. I am pondering on the fact there are some people out there that do like them-but I would never go as far to say any of my recipes are the best or the ultimate.
Now this particular recipe is from a bed and breakfast. The cookbook states that at the bed and breakfast this is their most requested recipe. "Most requested" is far more believable than the "best", so I decided to try it.
One odd thing was that it called for 3 1/2 eggs. In scaling down recipes, my method for 1/2 an egg is to crack the egg into a bowl and whisk lightly. Then measure out 2 tablespoons for use in the recipe because one egg usually measures 1/4 cup. The recipe also suggest using applesauce for a low fat version, but I used the canola oil.
Other than that, I was very well pleased with the flavor and happy to bring you this recipe. The batter, when baked, transforms into a moist, sweet bread flavored with cinnamon. If that was not enough, then consider that it is loaded with mango, papaya, pineapple, macadamia nuts and apricots. The dried fruits are specialty ingredients, but after tasting these little loaves, I felt that those ingredients were well worth the trip to obtain and the expense.
If you do decide to make these, you may want to try your own variation of fruits since the batter is such a good base to start with.
One important point about this recipe is that the batter cannot sit, it has to go right into the oven. This is because the ingredients start reacting with each other as soon as they are mixed. Doubling the recipe is not a good idea, if you do not have enough pans to bake all at once. This recipe makes 5 loaves that are 6X3X2. I used 6 loaf pans (steel rod connected) measuring 5X3X1 1/2 and had some batter leftover to make 2 jumbo muffins.
Oasis Tropical Mini Loaves
courtesy of Recipes from American Country Inns
Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots or raisins
1/4 cup chopped dried papaya
1/4 cup chopped dried ginger (or any dried fruit, I used dried pineapple)
1/4 cup chopped dried mango
1/4 cup shredded coconut (I skipped this ingredient)
3/8 cup or 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs of chopped macadamia nuts
1 cup cubed mango
1/4 cup crushed pineapple
1 1/4 cups canola oil (or applesauce for low fat)
3 1/2 eggs (room temp-see comments above concerning 1/2 an egg measurement)
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbs baking powder
2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups flour
Prepare the loaf pans by greasing inside the cavity and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Grease the face up side of the parchment paper. Then dust all insides of the pans with flour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs and vanilla. Then stir in the cubed mango and crushed pineapple. Set aside.
Take another bowl and sift the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon together. Then add the dried fruits, coconut and chopped nuts. Make sure that all these add ins are evenly mixed in.
Pour the dry mixture into the wet and stir just until no more dry streaks remain. Fill each loaf pan equally with batter and place all inside the oven to bake at one time. The loaves are done when the top is golden brown and a tester comes out clean. Baking time should be about 30-45 minutes. My batch took about 33 minutes.
Remove from oven and place pan(s) on rack to cool for about 5 minutes. Then invert onto rack and take off parchment paper. Flip loaves back over to finish cooling. Loaves can be frozen up to one month.
