Islander Muffins

       Still craving some summer flavors?  Summer may be almost over but fear not.  I am still in vacation mode so I have the perfect recipe to help us enjoy those warm, bright flavors for a little while longer!  These muffins feature the delicious combo of mango and coconut  and then are topped with a (wait for it...) salted rum butter cream.  Need I say more?

You'll need...

1 ½  cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½  tsp salt

1 cup Mango Cream

¼ cup + 2tbsp milk

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, melted 

Makes 12 muffins.

       Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare two muffin tins by greasing each cup (or you can use cupcake liners, if you prefer).

 In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside until needed.

      In a medium mixing bowl, combine Mango Cream, sugar, egg, milk, and butter.  Mix thoroughly.

       Stir dry ingredients into the creamed mixture.  *Important tip: don’t over stir!  For best results, be sure to mix the flour into the creamed mixture until just combined and the flour is no longer visible.  Over-mixing can cause the muffins to be less moist.

        Spoon the batter into the muffin tins until they are about ¾ full.  Place in the oven to bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  If your oven tends to bake food unevenly, put a cookie sheet under the muffin tins to help distribute the heat and keep the bottoms from getting too brown.

       Once the muffins have finished baking, take them out of the oven and let them cool in the tins for about three minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

       Once your muffins have fully cooled, it's time to break out the coring tool. I know, I know...yet another cream-stuffed recipe using the corer.  But I promise I wouldn’t be repeating this if it wasn’t such a hit!  (And do I need to say again how much fun it is?)  

       Cut a hole the size of a quarter in the center of the muffins, only going down about 1/4 of an inch deep.  Then using a knife, press the muffin center to the sides so you have an empty cone shape in the middle to put the filling in.  Once you have cored out all the muffins, you can start on the cream. 

 Island Coconut Cream

8oz cream cheese

1/2 cup + 2tbsp powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp coconut flavor

½ tsp rum flavor

1/2 tsp salt

       In a medium mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth.  Then whip in powdered sugar followed by extracts and salt.  Continue whipping until fully combined.      

       Put the butter cream into an icing bag fitted with a tip or a gallon Ziploc bag with one corner cut out.  Then stick the tip into the center of the muffin and fill the hollow.  Continue squeezing and move the tip up until you fill the center all the way to the top.  Repeat this process until all of the muffins are filled. 

       Serve and enjoy!