I’m on a coconut kick.

All those years of disliking it are catching up with me and now I’m trying to make up for lost time.

I am finding out that waaaaaay more people like coconut than I thought.

Like…pretty much everyone I know.

My family collectively hated coconut which is why I spent the first 23 years of my life avoiding it.

The only time I ever ate it was when I had a box of chocolates and accidentally bit into a coconut filled chocolate, which immideately triggered my gag/spit out everywhere reflex.

Gross.

I hate boxes of chocolate.

Mostly…

When Mikey and I were in Cork, Ireland I bought the most amazing box of chocolates.

Actually, I bought two…

One for me and one for my mom.

And it took every ounce of my self control to keep from eating that second box…

But I was able control myself thankfully…I got my love for baking/sweets/food from my mom and I know she enjoyed every bite of those chocolates just as much as I did.

They were to die for…

Soooooooo I guess I don’t really hate ALL boxes of chocolates.

Just most.

As you can see in the pictures above, this is a super easy recipe that you can whip together in no time.

You can always omit the coconut if you don’t like it.

Or you can add chocolate chips, nuts or double the coconut if you want.

I decided to add a little crumble of cinnamon, coconut and brown sugar on top.

You could also add some cold butter, flour and oats/nuts if you want a thicker streusel on top.

This bread bakes really well and is soooooo delicious.

Thanks to the bananas this bread is super dense and really moist.

It doesn’t have a strong coconut flavor and is more of a sweet/cake-like bread.

I highly recommend you make this!

I’m always behind when it comes to holidays…I realize I should have a St. Patricks day post for you this week…

It probably (definitely) won’t happen.

Sorry.

I need to plan ahead more.

I’ll work on that.

If you don’t like this banana bread, you may like my Butterscotch Banana Bread or my Banana Bread with Cinnamon and Sugar Crumble.

Recipe: Coconut Banana Bread

3 Very ripe/frozen bananas

1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

3 Eggs

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup Sweetened Flaked Coconut (can use unsweetened too)

Extra coconut, cinnamon and brown sugar for sprinkling over top

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Grease and flour 1 loaf pan (I also had enough to do two small loaf pans too! So you could also use a larger loaf pan and make one big loaf, or split it between two regular loaf pans and just use less batter/have smaller loaves.)

In a mixer, combine bananas, brown and granulated sugars and mix well. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add oil, vanilla and cinnamon and mix until well combined.

In a separate bowl, combine flours, baking powder and soda and salt.

Slowly mix into banana batter until completely combined.

Stir in coconut.

In a separate bowl, combine about 1/4 cup shredded coconut, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar.

Pour batter to pan or pans and sprinkle coconut mixture over top.

Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until coconut on top is browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Slice, serve and enjoy.

 

I found this recipe on the tastefoodblog.com