Eggless Mango Saffron Muffins with Pistachios

These cupcakes are a slight twist to a tried, tested, and much appreciated recipe for eggless mango cake.

Saffron and cardamom are added to most Indian desserts. Although they are added together, they complement each other beautifully without overshadowing or competing for their individual flavors. However, I feel the underlying dish loses its inherent flavor in the midst of these two strong spices. Since the flavor of mango deserves to stand-out, I suggest adding a hint of either cardamom or saffron to amplify the flavor quotient of the overall dish while still preserving the inherent taste of the fruit and spice. Since I have tried the cake version of this recipe with cardamom, I added saffron and pistachios this time.

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins):

1.  1.5 cups sweetened mango puree (I used store bought canned mango pulp)
2.  1/2 cup sugar (adjust based on how sweet the puree is)
3.  1 healthy pinch (or 1.5 - 2 pinches ;)) of saffron soaked in a tablespoon of warm milk
4.  1.5 cups all purpose flour
5.  2 teaspoons baking soda
6.  a pinch of salt
7. 1/3 cup shelled and roughly chopped pistachios (add more for an extra bite)
8. 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preparation:

1.  Strongly whisk oil and sugar until the oil is mixed into the sugar
2.  Into the above, whisk mango puree, soaked saffron (along with milk)
3.  Mix dry ingredients separately - flour, baking soda, and salt
4.  Slowly add dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix gently with a spatula. Do not over mix or beat.
5. Finally mix in the pistachios (mix the pistachios with a tablespoon of flour before adding to the batter, so that the nuts don't settle at the bottom of the muffins)
6. Line a standard cupcake/muffin tray with liners 
7. Using an ice cream scoop, evenly divide the batter into the depressions (the muffins do rise and settle, so give some room)
8. Bake at 350 F (preheated) for 15 minutes or until a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs.

 Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or with tea. 

Transfer the batter to a greased 9-inch cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes for a lovely cake!