Banana Bread

It’s not unusual to be asked what my favorite thing to cook is, and typically sweet bread (banana, zucchini, orange cranberry, rhubarb) is at the top of the list. Banana bread is something I have perfected over time and without fail every time it comes out pretty close to perfect. When Anna introduced me to her recipe I learned about her secret ingredient, shredded coconut powder, and I agree it’s a game changer.

I can remember introducing this recipe to my best friend Stevie and would make her loafs periodically, she quickly nicknamed it Monkey Bread. So to this day that’s what we call it. Anna likes to add mini chocolate chips to her batch however John would rather leave them out, I know crazy right? So depending on who will be eating the bread, the ingredients may be slightly different.

I have been known to make this and include in care packages, share with neighbors and also bring to work for colleagues. After their first bite I always get the slight nod and smile, so I know it’s a winner. Eating a slice warm with a dab of butter is never a bad idea. In fact I encourage it.

Banana (Monkey) Bread Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup shredded coconut powder
½ cup toasted chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
½ cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease and flour bottom of 9×5 loaf pan or use muffin tin with liners
3. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and oil
4. Add eggs, bananas, sour cream and vanilla, mix well
5. Add flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix well
6. Combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients
7. Stir in coconut powder, chocolate chips and nuts
8. Pour mixture into loaf pans and/or muffin tins
9. Bake loaf 50-60 minutes or 20-30 min in the muffin tins

Tips:

• If you have bananas that are ripe but you aren’t quite ready to make bread, place them in the freezer. Thaw in a bowl when you are ready to use them. The more black in color the sweeter the bread.
• Add half of a small box of Vanilla Pudding powder to your batter
• For a lighter bread consider using half cake flour, half all-purpose flour
• Use a toothpick to test if it’s done baking.