Toasted Coconut Banana Bread

It's my husband's birthday! Of course, I wanted to make him an amazing delicious cake, but I also had a few ripe bananas set aside for banana bread (one of his favorites). Well, you know how I love to experiment in the kitchen. The result was this amazingly moist and delicious cake (bread), topped with a few white chocolate chips and shreds of yummy coconut.

To start, you'll need a few ingredients, but only one bowl! This entire treat gets mixed by hand in about 5 minutes in one bowl! Less dishes = Happy mama! Don't forget to preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C), and use a 4x8-inch loaf pan. I gave mine an extra spray of olive oil for non-stickiness. Here's what you need:

-4 very ripe bananas, peeled
-1/3 cup melted butter
-1 cup of sugar equivalent (can easily use 3/4 cup, or drop it down to 1/2 cup if you want it less sweet, use 1/3 cup honey, etc.)
-2 eggs, beaten
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-Pinch of salt
-1 cup organic coconut flour
-1/3 cup of all-purpose wheat flour (optional)

In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until smooth. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt on the top and gently mix it in. Next, stir in the sugar (or Splenda, stevia, honey, etc of your choice), beaten eggs, and vanilla extract. The reason this is more liquid than my normal banana bread base is because with coconut flour, you need more liquid as the coconut meat absorbs more-- otherwise you will have dry and crumbly bread!). Lastly, gently fold in the coconut flour.



I love to have my daughter help me with the baking- she especially liked being a part of daddy's "love cake." Just don't stress! Flour can get swept up and chocolate chips get spilled. Have fun with it! This is also the point where you would add in any optional mix-ins, such as chopped pecans or walnuts, or in this case we used 1/4 cup of white chocolate chips. It was a birthday cake, after all. :)

Bake for about 25 minutes at 350°F, and then remove from oven and sprinkle shredded coconut on the top. If you put it on in the beginning, it will burn- you want it to have that nice toasted look. Put it back into the oven about 10-15 more minutes---until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Mmm... Doesn't it smell so good!?

So, now that your toothpick is clean, you want to remove it from oven and cool it on a wire rack. This prevents it from continuing to bake and get dry- don't leave it on a hot stovetop!



The next part can get a little tricky... Remove the coconut banana bread from the pan. I like to do this by placing a clean kitchen towel over the top and turning it over, giving it a little shake 'til it falls out of the pan onto your towel. Then I use the towel to place it right side up back on the rack to cool some more. Slice and serve warm! Mmm! Goes great with your #morningcoffee too!



Here is the nutrition content for the base bread, without the mixins.



If you enjoyed this recipe, please subscribe to my blog so you'll get notified of new posts, and share this recipe with someone you love! As always, live healthy, live happy! Love, Amanda

Star Diamond Coach Amanda Noddings
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