Life is much sweeter with some Mango Crumb Bars in it. These crumbly bars are filled with fresh mangos, then baked to perfection. Savor that tropical flavor. Indulge in this fruity dessert. And if you must, grab them for an afternoon snack. Heck, have them for breakfast! Because WHY NOT.
Mango Crumb Bars are great because they are deceivingly easy to make. A few simple tips and tricks will give you everything you need to bake your heart out and never look back.
Mangoes are also in season right now and are such a treat when incorporated into desserts. Besides having a distinct flavor and scent, the ripened fruit itself is sweet as candy. Does that not spell dessert material or what?!?
My love for mangoes has led to a boat load of mango recipes on this blog. Everything from the traditional Thai Mango Sweet Sticky Rice to Fish Tacos with Mango Peach Salsa. And now this. Mango is one of those fruits that I love and love to incorporate into dishes and desserts even more.
What mangoes to use for Mango Crumb Bars?
This recipe calls for ripened, super sweet mangoes. A ripened mango will typically be orange/yellow-ish in color, and it smells sweet and mango-y (if you know what I mean 🙂 ). We are using ~2 mangoes for this recipe, maybe 3 if they are smaller.
How to make Mango Crumb Bars?
Cut the mangoes into small chunks, and mix with sugar and cornstarch. If you are using less sweet mangoes, add more sugar to the mixture.
The dough requires cold butter. Yes, cold! Bring it out from the refrigerator right before you need to use it. After mixing the dry ingredients together (flour, baking powder, salt), add chunks of cold butter into the food processor and pulse until mixture turns crumbly (see picture below).
Alternatively, you can also use a pastry cutter to mix the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture becomes crumbly.
Mix together wet ingredients (brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract), then pour wet ingredients into the crumbly mixture and mix well.
Bring ~2/3 of the crumbly mixture and spread it onto a 8″x8″ baking pan lined with parchment paper (for even-baking and easy removal of the bars). If you are not using parchment paper, consider greasing the pan.
Use a spatula to press crumbs onto the pan to form the bottom layer of the bar. Pour and spread mango mixture onto the bottom crumb layer. Then sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture on top of the mango mixture.
Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees F.
And viola.
Let the pastry cool in the pan for 5-10 minute. Lift parchment paper and bring the pastry out to cool further. Give it at least 15-20 minutes. It is a lot easier to cut into square bars after it cools down.
Crumbly, buttery pastry. Soft, sweet, juicy, fresh mangoes. So lovely together.
I typically store these for a couple of days in the fridge, but they never last too long because they are just TOO GOOD.
The next time you are craving for dessert, and are about to bake a cookie or a cake, consider baking some Mango Crumb Bars. They are simple, easy on the eyes, and even easier on the stomach.
Happy baking, all!
Mango Crumb Bars
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups ripe mangoes (small chunks) 2-3 mangoes
- 3-5 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tbsp corn starch
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cut mangoes into small chunks. In a bowl, combine mango chunks, sugar (use more if mango is not ripened) and corn starch. Mix well and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.
- Cut cold (important: make sure it is cold!) unsalted butter into chunks and add to flour mixture.
- If using a food processor, pulse until small crumbs are formed. If using a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour mixture until small crumbs are formed.
- Mix together wet ingredients – brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Then add wet ingredients into buttery dry mixture. Mix well – mixture should be slightly crumbly.
- Bring ~2/3 of crumbly mixture to the bottom of a 8″ x 8″ baking pan lined with parchment paper. Press mixture onto pan to form a layer of crumb pastry.
- Add mango mixture, and spread it out evenly.
- Then sprinkle the top with the rest of the crumbles.
- Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let it cool for 5-10 minutes. Then lift parchment paper and bring pastry out from the pan. Let it cool for another 15-20 minutes.
- Cut into 9 square bars. Serve and enjoy!
The Mango Crumb Bars look YUMMY. Can’t wait to try them!
Thank you! It’s yummy! If you have any questions when you make them please let me know! 🙂
i am fascinated by your mango crumb bars recipe creation. i want to try making them .
Besides mango what other fruits can i use? Will pisang rajah work?
I think it could! Depending on the fruit and how sweet it naturally is, you might need to add more sugar to really bring out the fruit flavor. Pisang rajah (banana) tends to be more tart, so maybe add more sugar to it? Good luck!
Um. Out of nowhere yiu list an egg as a wet ingredient . No egg is listed in the ingredients. I take it one egg is called for?
Oops! Yes! One egg is called for. I just added it to the ingredient list – thanks for pointing it out! 🙂 Let me know how it goes when you make it!
This looks so good! It can be difficult to know what to do with a bunch of mangoes when they are about to go bad. This is a nice way to use them up!
Absolutely!!! Thanks so much!
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
You can keep them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or so!
I just did this one! It is very good inspite I changed some of the ingredients to vegan . Instead of one egg, I used unsweetened applesauce, instead of reg butter, I used Earth Balance Vegan Butter. Looking forward to making this again.
Yay! Love that you made it your own – thank you for sharing with us the tweaks you made! So glad you enjoyed it!
i don’t have cornstarch, any substitute? 🙂
Try flour? Maybe double the amount it calls for?
Absolutely delicious! Definitely a keeper. Not too sweet and the crumble is great. I want to make more for friends…do they freeze well?
I’m so glad you like it! I haven’t tried freezing them but I think it should freeze just fine! Give it a try and let me know how it goes!
Hi, I had a question, how come the mixture isn’t crumbly after I add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients… It instantly becomes soft and mushy… Its frustrating not being able to “sprinkle” it on because I’m busy forming the top layer into a flat sheet… Any help would be very much appreciated, also brilliant recipe, my family loves it! If only it would crumble. Thanks!!
The mixture typically becomes soft and mushy if the butter in the dry mixture is already melted. You’ll need to cut cold butter into the dry mixture and then quickly add the wet mixture to it before the butter is melted. Glad your family enjoyed it!
This was honestly waaay better than I thought it was going to be because usually I don’t like baked fruit but I had expensive mangoes and had to use them or they would go to waste , so I tried this and it was soooo good. Great recipe👍🏽👍🏼
I didn’t put any cornstarch or sugar with the mango! Delicious and very easy!!
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing!!
Fabulous recipe! Based on other comments, I baked this in an 8 x 8 Pyrex dish. I also added toasted, chopped macadamia nuts to the topping for a little extra crunch. Next time, I will add a little cardamom to the topping as well. My family of mango lovers devoured this!
That’s great! Thanks for sharing your variation!
Do you happen to know what can I replace the egg with, for a vegan result?
I’m sorry but I do not. 🙁 Unfortunately, I have not baked this without the egg and don’t know how to do it off the top of my head.
I was really happy to find this recpe but disappointed when I tried it as there really wasn’t much flavour. Sprinkling ground ginger over the top of the completed bars solved the issue – on repeating the recipe I would mix this into the crumble itself or perhaps in the fruit mixture. With that bit of extra flavour – delicious!
Hi Suyana! I am sorry to hear that it wasn’t flavorful enough for you! I think adding ground ginger is a great idea. In addition, some mangoes are more flavorful and sweeter than others, so if mangoes aren’t sweet enough, adding more sugar will open up the flavors as well! I hope you give it a try again and let me know how that goes!
It is mango season here in Jamaica and I am the lucky recipient of dozens of them – different varieties. I often puree and sieve them to get rid of the strings which I don’t like getting stuck in my teeth. I made this recipe using puree instead of chunks of mango. Worked just fine.Tastes just fine too.
Great idea to puree them! Thanks for sharing! 🙂