Coconut Banana Bread

What do you do when you have an excess of of bananas because they were 25 cents a pound and you bought way to many? Make banana ice cream, banana muffins, and of course some banana bread! I have delicious banana ice cream in my freezer tempting me and I froze some banana muffins made from my best and basic banana bread recipe. Although I will always have my favorite banana bread recipe, I decided to try a variation. Today’s banana bread is made with coconut milk instead of butter. I also used brown sugar and honey instead of white sugar. Throw in some oats, and you have a slightly healthier banana bread. I don’t know if I can totally call it healthy or fat free because coconut milk does have quite a bit of fat, but it doesn’t have the cholesterol of butter. This bread is slightly chewier than my go-to recipe because of the oats and not quite as sweet and rich, but it is definitely a keeper! I can’t stop eating it!!! Especially if you top it with a toasted coconut streusel!

Side Note: I found 25 cent bananas at a little store called Aldi. It’s my new favorite store! It is a quirky little store, but I highly recommend it because the prices are so low! Although the really cheap things are different every time I go, I am always able to find really great deals. I got a whole big thing of cherry tomatoes for 50 cents! At normal stores they are at least $3 . Blackberries were 99 cents out of season! The reason they are able to keep their prices so consistently low is because they don’t have very high overhead. They keep their overhead low by making the customers do all the work, so its good to have a heads up before you go so you know what to expect. First, you need a quarter in order to unlock a cart to use. When you put your cart back, you get the quarter back and it keeps the carts neat and in one place and there is no need to hire someone to gather carts. Second, the bags are not complimentary. You can pay for bags or bring your own. However, most people just grab an empty card board food box from off one of the shelves. The cashier quickly runs the food through straight into another cart, which you can then take over a packing counter and load it up into your bags or boxes yourself. Also, you can only pay with cash or a debit card with a pin number. No credit or checks. They don’t always have every specific thing I need, but I have saved so much grocery money at this store and I highly recommend it if you have one in your town. I was able to fill my completely empty fridge for only $30.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 185 mL coconut milk (full fat)
• 3/4 C. brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 ripe large, ripe bananas
• 2 TBSP. honey
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 C. all-purpose flour
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 C. oats

Toasted Coconut Streusel:

• 1/4 C. flour
• 3 TBSP. brown sugar
• dash of salt
• dash of cinnamon
• 3 heaping TBSP. sweetened shredded coconut
• 2 TBSP. cold butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a large baking pan with spray.

2. Beat together coconut milk, sugar,eggs, cinnamon, and honey in the bowl of an electric mixer. In a separate bowl, mash peeled bananas with a fork. Some small chunks are just fine. Add to wet mixture and mix until combined, scraping down the sides as needed.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and oats. Gradually add to the wet mixture and mix until combined.

4. Pour mixture into the large bread pan. I like to leave a little bit for a small bread pan so the big one isn’t filled so full. It will cook faster if you don’t pour the all the batter into the same pan.

5. In a small bowl, combine the streusel ingredients. Blend the butter in with a pastry cutter or your fingers. Sprinkle generously on top of the batter. Bake bread for 40-60 minutes, depending on how full you fill the pan. If you are cooking a smaller loaf, too, it will be done much faster, so check it. My coconut didn’t burn and was toasted just right, but I would still check it frequently and if it is toasting too quickly, cover the loaf with tin foil.

Recipe idea adapted from Cook Republic