Mango and Red Chili Cupcakes!

Sweet and fruity with a bit of heat - my new favorite baked good. :)

Makes 16 cupcakes, will take between 1-2 hours total.

• 1 mango
• 2 red chilies - I'm using dried finger chilies.
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk or soy milk
• paper liners
• icing of choice
• cupcake tins
• bowls and a mixer
• an oven preheated to 350 F

Procrastinating baker tip: to soften the butter in much less time, cut it into small pieces and leave it out on a plate. :)

If you're using fresh red chiles, you only need to remove the seeds and mince them.

If you're using dried red chilies, you'll need to rehydrate them. First, break off the top and massage out the seeds. Then bring a small amount of water to a boil (a couple cups is fine) with the chilies in it. Then, turn off the heat, and let sit for about 30 minutes in the hot water. It's good to move them to a smaller bowl if you can't find anything to weigh them down in the pot.

You'll then mince them up. I don't worry about the membranes in these - you want the cupcakes to have a little heat. :)

Using this here instructable:
https://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Cut-A-Mango/

Googly eyes are optional but fully encouraged.

Once you've scored the mango, invert it and cut out all the edible bits, and then chop everything pretty fine. You want a wide range of textures, from pulpy to bigger pieces. The last picture should give you the right idea.

In a large bowl.

Stir together with a fork until everything is getting along well.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

On top of the dry ingredients.

For 2 minutes! Vroom!

I timed this using a kitchen timer, because there is no way I could stay focused enough to time it myself. :)

Beat for another two minutes on medium speed.

Vroom vroom!

It should be soft but have decent body.

Loooooooking good.

Don't be too rough with the batter, just fold the mango and chili in.

Fill them about 2/3 of the way full. :)

Try to beat neat - small blobs of batter on the top of the sheet will burn in the oven and they're tricky to clean off!

For 20 minutes at 350 F.

Test them when you take them out but sticking a toothpick or a paring knife into the middle of a few of them. If your utensil of choice comes out clean, you're good to go!

For ten minutes in the cupcake pan, and an additional ten minutes on wire racks.

I'm using a basic white icing and a butter knife.

Just stick a nice sized blob on the top (see the second picture) and smooth it around. Nothing too fancy, because they're going to get devoured very soon. Notice that I lost two just during the icing phase because my boyfriend came home from work.

Once you're done, serve them! Or bribe people with them. Or both.