Part 13 Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook

Part 13

Serve the biscuits right in the pan.

Yield: Four times the number of biscuits in your tube.

MANGO BREAD.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

cup softened b.u.t.ter (1 and sticks)

1 package (8 ounces) softened cream cheese (the brick

kind, not the whipped kind)

2 cups white sugar (granulated)

2 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a gla.s.s with a fork)

teaspoon vanilla extract

1 and cups mashed mangos (you can use fresh and peel

and seed your own, or you can buy them already

prepared in the ready-to-eat section at your produce

counter)

3 cups flour (don't sift pack it down in the cup when you

measure)

teaspoon baking powder

teaspoon baking soda

teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Hannah's 1st Note: This is a lot easier with an electric mixer.

Beat the b.u.t.ter, cream cheese and sugar together until they're nice and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs and the vanilla, and mix them in.

Peel, seed, and slice the mangos (or drain them and pat them dry if you've used prepared mangos). Mash them in a food processor with the steel blade, or puree them in a blender, or squash them with a potato masher until they're pureed. Measure out 1 and cups of mashed mangos and add it to your mixing bowl. Stir well.

In another bowl, measure out the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix them together.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the mango mixture, beating at low speed until everything is incorporated.

Mix in the walnuts or pecans by hand.

Coat the inside of two loaf pans (the type you'd use for bread) with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon in the mango bread batter.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for approximately one hour, or until a long toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top browns a bit too fast, tent a piece of foil over the top of the loaves.

You can also bake this in 6 smaller loaf pans, filling them about half full. If you use the smaller pans, they'll need to bake approximately 45 minutes.

Cool for 20 minutes in the pans. Then loosen the edges and turn the loaves out onto the wire rack.

Yield: Makes 2 bread-sized loaves, or 6 small loaves.

Hannah's 2nd Note: This bread is also good toasted. Lisa took it home from the contest and tried it the next morning for breakfast. She said she liked hers plain, but Herb wanted b.u.t.ter on his.

PEACH BREAD.