NUTTY COCONUT BANANA BREAD

I remember reading that the #1 item sold at Walmart was (who knew?) bananas!  After giving it a little thought it made very good sense to me.  I go to Walmart often and will admit to most of the time when I leave there are bananas in my cart.

Bananas are the #1 fruit consumed in the United States. I am someone who grew up on a farm that had all kinds of fruit, and commercially grew stone fruits (plums and peaches) I would have not guessed bananas were #1.  I would have probably guessed the #2 fruit, apples, would have been #1.

I decided some years ago that I would just freeze the bananas when they were beyond the stage to eat as a snack or on cereal. I cut them into chunks and put them a freezer Ziploc bag, three bananas to a bag and write "3 bananas on the Ziploc."  I pretty much have bananas for this bread in my freezer at all times. They are also good for smoothies, etc. If you want to make this bread and do not have over-ripe bananas you can place your bananas in a 300° oven for 30-50 minutes.  Just keep an eye on them and when they are black they are ready to cool and be mashed for the bread.

I have been making this bread for  a few years and it is hubby's favorite banana bread.  I think that old adage "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" tends to be true.  Take note young girls - it does not say "the way to a man's heart is through the drive-thru."

The two things that make this recipe a little different are coconut and toasted pecans. I do not like to use the most popular brand of sweetened coconut as it is so sticky and tends to stick together in the dry ingredients.  I love this one from Trader Joe's but know that Trader Joe's is not everywhere so you might look at the bins in your store that sells nuts, etc. in the bins as I can usually find sweetened coconut there that is not sticky.

If you don't purchase already chopped pecans, this is about the chop size you want to have.

Makes one nice big loaf.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over your mixture and into the oven.

Just out of the oven - this is such a pretty loaf and smells so good! The crunchy top and the nut and coconut inside the bread is a nice and yummy surprise. Beware this loaf may disappear very quickly!

Recipe: Nutty Coconut Banana Bread

Ingredients

• ½ cup vanilla yogurt (if using unflavored yogurt add ¼ tsp vanilla)
• 1 egg
• 1 1/3 cups mashed bananas (usually about 3 bananas)
• 3 T canola oil
• 1⅓ cups King Arthur AP flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1cup chopped pecans, toasted (will use about 2/3 in the mix)
• ½ cup shredded coconut

Nutty-Coconut topping

• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons coconut
• Other 1/3 cup of toasted pecans from the above ingredients list.

Instructions

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan.

2.   In a bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, pecans and coconut.

3.   In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, egg, oil and bananas. Add to flour mixture and stir just until moistened and all combined. Pour into pan.

4.   Combine topping ingredients until crumbly and sprinkle them evenly over batter.

5.    Bake 55-65* minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*as oven temps vary – I start checking this bread at about 50 minutes – in my oven the top is getting perfectly brown but the center is not done, so I loosely place some aluminum foil over the bread so that while it continues to bake the top will not get too browned. Depending on the oven this step may not be necessary.

Thank you for stopping by.