The smell of banana bread coming out of the oven cannot be beat! It’s one of my fave go-to breads, and I never make it the same way. Here, I decided to give it a little island kick by throwing in some toasted, unsweetened, shredded coconut. This banana bread was so moist and delicious – we ended up heating a small slice of it in the mornings and eating it on the way to work (yes, it was an eat-and-run kind of a week…so glad it’s Friday!).
The other week, I was speed-shopping at the grocery store, and unknowingly grabbed an Eagle Mills brand of all-purpose flour. When I got home, I read the label a little more carefully, and realized that what I had picked up was a blend of ultragrain flour with AP flour, and had 9 grams of whole grains, and 2 grams of fiber per serving! What a score – it’s always nice to realize that you picked up a little extra nutrition along the way. I usually substitute some of the whole-wheat flour with all-purpose flour, but I decided not to do that in this recipe since I felt good about the ultragrain blend.
Banana-Coconut Bread
serves 10-12
2 1/4 cups ultragrain all-purpose flour (or 2 cups all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup whole wheat flour)
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3/4 stick (6 Tbsp) butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 whole egg
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
6-oz container plain, lowfat yogurt
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas (3 large)
1 cup unsweetened, flaked coconut, lightly toasted (I do it on a pan at medium-low heat for a few minutes until very lightly toasted)
Nonstick, fat-free cooking spray
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 8 1/2 – by- 4 1/2 – inch loaf pan with the nonstick cooking spray, and dust with flour, knocking out excess flour.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In another bowl, stir together the yogurt, bananas, and vanilla extract.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter with sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and egg whites, continue to beat at medium speed. Add the banana-yogurt mixture, beating until combined. Reduce the speed to low, and add the flour mixture; mix until combined. Stir in the flaked coconut.
3. Bake the banana bread for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Delish!!
Yum! Do you think that using a mixer and combining dry/moist ingredients separately makes a difference? I like to dump everything in the bowl, mix by hand, and throw in the oven. If I could be convinced that texture is improved with beating the egg, I might try. What are your thoughts?
Why don’t you just beat all the wet ingredients together and then throw in the dry? It’s just easier that way so you don’t get clumps of unincorporated flour into your bread – you don’t even have to beat the eggs first before throwing them into the batter. How’s everything?
i’ve done banana bread lots of times but never with coconut i bet it smells even better in the oven!
I’ve never added coconut to my banana bread but I plan to try it now. This recipe looks great!
I put coconut in my banana bread too…it evolved from a recipe from my grandmother that she called kona cake. It’s a wonderful combination and I’m looking forward to trying your recipe. I’ll be getting loads of bananas next week as we kick off Fairtrade Fortnite here in the UK so this recipe is perfect timing.
Banana bread is my favorite, and this spin on it sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing!
The bread looks great! I haven’t seen that flour yet but will be looking for it now. It sounds like a good change from my typical whole wheat pastry flour.
Thanks Maggie – I hope you find it, I love it!
made 2 loaves of your bread today! smelled so good in the house
Hey, is this the same recipe you used for the choc-chip banana bread minus the coconut?? Maybe I will make it sometime in the near future. Just gotta buy the healthy flour, etc.
Yep, same recipe! If you don’t have the ultragrain flour just throw in all-purpose and substitute with a little whole-wheat flour.