Coconut Banana Bread

I don't usually make two recipes at once, but last Saturday I had both zucchini and bananas that needed to be used - so I decided to make both Chocolate Zucchini Bread and Coconut Banana Bread.  It wasn't a lot of work, but it did take a long time because they took so long to bake.  Originally I had planned to make regular banana bread, but I did not have the sour cream the original recipe called for.  Since I am always looking for good substitutes for dairy products I thought maybe coconut milk would be good - then I thought I might be crazy - so I decided to Google whether this was normal or not.  Turns out LOTS of people use coconut milk in banana bread. Huh - who knew?

So I threw it together - not quite sure if I would like it (I'm not a huge coconut fan), but Eric loves it so I knew someone would eat it.  Turns out you can't really taste the coconut at all, but the bread was really moist and dense (but not heavy).  I definitely recommend it to everyone.

Coconut Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup + 2 TBSP sugar
3 whole eggs
1 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas
4 cups + 2 TBSP flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 14 oz can coconut milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour your pan, or use baking cups.

Cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs (I just add them all at once, but you can add them one at a time if you want).  Add the mashed bananas and combine, but don't overmix -you want the banana lumps. 

Combine the dry ingredients and mix half into the banana mixture.  Stir the coconut milk to combine and add to the mixture.  Add the rest of the dry ingredients and beat until well incorporated. 

You can add anything you want at this point - nuts or chocolate chips or both.  I think shredded coconut on top or mixed in would be good as well.

Evenly distribute the batter between your pans and bake for 15-50 minutes. The size of your pan will determine how long it needs to bake - so if you are using cupcakes or baking cups start checking it at 15 minutes and determine how long it needs to cook. If you are using 2 bread pans, you can probably go for about 40 minutes before checking it. It is done when you can pull your tester (or knife) out clean.


You can serve it hot or wait for it to cool.  If you serve it hot it will be a little extra crumbly.  I usually store mine in the fridge, it will be good for about a week or so - if it lasts that long!  You can also freeze it if you want to make it ahead of time, just take it out the night before you serve it.  
I got the original recipe from here. 

Enjoy!