When I recently launched my baking blog, The Butter & Sugar Brigade, and consequently posted about it on Facebook, a friend of mine responded by saying, “Please make me everything on this website.”  Of course, I’d be more than happy to oblige, I told him, but why not make something new to post and share with my loyal readers?  So I told him, pick a flavor, and I’ll make you a baked good.

The flavor he picked?  Mango.  Mango?!

And so, I set off on a Never Have I Ever Recipe Adventure—because never have I ever baked with mango before.  And after some Internet perusing, I found a recipe on Epicurious that included a few others ingredients I’ve never baked with before, namely papaya and fresh pineapple.  (I have quite a few top-notch recipes using canned pineapple, but I’ve never cut up and cored a fresh pineapple, let alone baked with one.  And papaya?  Let’s not even go there.)

Well, the result of my tropical fruit devirginization?  Something to build upon.  The original recipe produced a basic bar, with a sort of nondescript filling that was less in-your-face tropical than I was hoping.  If I were to make these squares again, I’d amend a few components of the recipe, including reducing the baking time, adding macadamia nuts to the crust, and perhaps incorporating sweetened coconut to the filling—the one classic item missing from this tropical fruit trifecta.

See below for more pictures, and visit The Butter & Sugar Brigade for my revised recipe.