Flour – Just regular plain / all-purpose flour. Self raising flour is not recommended here, it has too much baking powder in it for this recipe, the base and crumb will puff up too much.
Desiccated coconut – Or finely shredded coconut. Just not coconut flakes, they are too large. Also, please use unsweetened.
Oats – Regular plain rolled oats aka traditional oats. Not steel cut, not quick cooking, and not flavoured ones.
Unsalted butter – Melted. If using salted, just skip the salt.
Sugar – Just half a cup (100g) of white sugar. Not too sweet! I use white sugar so the base is whiter – fresh summery colours against the orange mango – but brown sugar works too. The crust will just be a pale brown and the surface gets a little more colour.
Egg – Makes the mixture bind together. No need to bring to room temperature in this recipe. Use a large egg (50-55g/2oz), sold in cartons labelled as “large eggs” or 600-660g for a dozen. More on eggs for baking here.
Salt – Standard baking ingredient these days, to bring out the flavours in the other ingredients.
Mango bars with lime drizzle
Mango Bars assembled and ready to bake!
How to make my Mango Bars
In all honesty, cutting the mangoes takes the most time here. But that’s a pleasurable task because you get to snack on all the offcuts as you go, and the chef gets to suck the seed!
1. HOW I CUT MANGO
I found the mango layer texture is nicer using slices rather than dicing (turned into mush). So use the cheeks first then the offcuts from around the seed only if needed to make up the full 2 1/2 cups we need.
Cheeks first – Stand the mango upright on the wider side (ie the side that was attached to the tree). Cut the cheek of the mango off each side of the seed, aiming to leave as little flesh as possible on the seed.
Scoop out – Then using a large spoon or scooper (the sharper the edge, the easier it is), scoop the flesh out of the skin in one large piece.
Slicing – slice the cheeks into 3 – 4 mm / just shy of o.2″ thick slices. Too thin = breakage when tossed, too thick = slippery and harder to cut/eat. (Speaking from experience here).
(If short of the amount required, cut the flesh around the seed and use that too).
Measure – Measure out 2 1/2 cups (400g) mango slices into a bowl. The slices will flop and fold into a measuring cup so it’s pretty accurate. Don’t fret about some breakage. Then set aside. Do not toss with sugar yet. The mango will sweat and get too watery.
2. Base & crumb (same mixture)
We are using the same mixture for the base and crumbly topping. The mixture is a little wetter when it’s first mixed and pressed into the base. By the time you get to sprinkling it over the mango, it has dried out a bit to make it easier to crumble across the surface.
