Mango Bars

Wow...

That's all I can say. I mean I hate to brag because in all seriousness I don't attribute the great success of these mango bars to my culinary skills. I give total credit to two key "ingredients": mango and butter. Where can you go wrong? How is that possible?

I have been spoiling, really really spoiling, the office staff in our administration building at work. After all, I know who butters my bread. I know how to take care of those who take care of me. Ask my husband. But they do know that blogging is an important part of my baking and cooking and that their input is quite valuable. After all I need to let all of you know how the dish was truly viewed by others, outside of my own humble opinion.
They know that I like my dishes rated on a scale of 1 (YUCK!) to 10 (WOOTWOOT). When I walked into the eating room, as they were gathered around the table, I saw hands flying in the air, "IT'S BEYOND 10! INCREDIBLE! SO 'ONO" (delicious for you monolinguals). I said, ever so calmly (hiding my exhuberance), "I need a quote to put in the blog". Up pipes an unnamed employee who said, and I quote, "IT IS FRICKIN' KICK 'ELEMU". I kid you not. She said that. I said, "um, can I quote you? Should I use a stage name?" She said yes. And they all agreed upon the name Honokā girl. That way, people wouldn't be able to pick out the EXACT person since a couple of the people in the vicinity are female and hail from Honoka'a.

This recipe comes from Best of the Best from Hawai'i Cookbook.
Mango Bars
Crust:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan. Combine flour with sugar. Add butter and press into prepared baking pan; bake 12 minutes.

Filling:
4 cups chopped mangoes
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons water

Combine mangoes, sugar, water, lemon juice, vanilla, and cinnamon in a saucepan. Simmer until the mangoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Combine cornstarch and water; stir into the mango mixture and cook until thickened. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Pour over prepared crust.

Topping:
2 cups quick oats
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter

Combine oats, flour, and sugar. Blend in butter and sprinkle over mango mixture. Bake for 50 minutes; cool and cut into bars. STore in refrigerator. Make 2 dozen.