Banana Coconut Bread

This yummy banana coconut bread was inspired by Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella‘s Banana Bread Bake off. I had never made banana bread before, but since we had two slightly sad-looking bananas in the cupboard, I figured it was a good time to start! I decided I wanted another flavour, and it struck me that coconut would make a good match. A quick trawl by Google turfed up several recipes, and naturally I chose the one I had the ingredients for already! 😉 The recipe is here; I actually didn’t have coconut milk, but had read that normal milk and a little extra vanilla would suffice – I guess it’s not as coconutty, but the flavour was beautiful anyway, and since coconut is (sadly) so full of fat, it’s definitely the healthier option*! I sprinkled some coconut on top, and voila!

We took it to a friend’s birthday picnic yesterday, and it certainly passed the taste test; it was gobbled quite quickly, especially once people discovered it was still warm from the oven. 😉 Thanks for hosting your event, Lorraine, it’s fun to have challenges to meet! And if anyone hasn’t looked at Not Quite Nigella yet, go there! It’s an awesome combination of food reviews (in Sydney, sadly for me!) and recipes.

*although, if it’s health food you’re after, banana bread is probably unlikely to satisfy your criteria anyway; in fact, if you’re trying to steer clear of sugar, I’d suggest you’re reading the wrong blog. 😉

Edit: Pia commented to let me know the link was broken, and then, wonderfully, she’s relocated the recipe and sent me a link for it! So here it is, just in case it goes AWOL again:

INGREDIENTS

1½ cups self-raising flour, sifted
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup mashed banana
1 cup coconut milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Butter, to serve

METHOD

Preheat oven to 160°C. Lightly grease and line a 10 x 20cm loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, coconut and sugar. In a large jug, whisk together banana, coconut milk, egg and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, stirring until just combined.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve spread with butter, if liked.