Coconut Banana Bread
One unlucky night last week, I got stuck. Our house is perched high atop a series of three steep hills, and sometimes the perfect combination of slick icy snow, and lack of plowing makes the drive impossible. The sound of spinning tires, grunting anti-lock brakes, burning rubber, and my slow slide backwards meant I could go no further. As I left my car and trudged up the hills to our house, visions of a greyhound and whippet propelled dogsled pushed me onward. My groceries got stuck, along with my car, which left a pitiful fruit bowl occupied with some droopy black spotted bananas for sustenance when I got home. I thought to myself, when life gives you bad roads and black bananas, make banana bread. This banana bread is easy, deeply flavored with the triple dynamo of vanilla, coconut, and bananas, and tastes fantastic. I have been making and tweaking this moist coconut banana bread for years, and we love it. Paul tends to be a little obsessed and through our first few years of marriage had coconut banana bread for breakfast almost every morning.
Yield: One loaf, about 10-12 generous slices
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2-3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 3/4 cup)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut (reserve a tablespoon for sprinkling on top of the bread)
Steps:
- Heat oven to 375.
- In a stand mixer or large bowl, whisk ripe bananas until they are well mashed. Add the butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and coconut. Whisk until smooth.
- Fold in flour, baking powder and salt until just combined.
- Pour batter into greased bread pan. Smooth top and sprinkle with reserved coconut.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top is deeply golden, the edges are pulling away from the pan and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Put on a cooling rack and remove the bread from the pan after about 5 minutes.
Notes:
- This is a slow cooking bread, so don’t be tempted to remove it from the oven when it starts to brown, it typically takes the full 50 minutes to cook.
- We like to make a double batch and freeze one loaf, it thaws well and toasts up deliciously with some salty butter.
Fresh Coconut Pancakes in the rainy season
A quick trip out to get ingredients can be a big ordeal here in Haiti, especially this time of year. May marks the start of the rainy season. We’ve seen torrential downpours almost daily for several weeks now here in Port-au-Prince. These heavy rains wash out main roads, swell the region’s rivers, overflow the sewers, and cause flash floods which can destroy the fragile homes that line the city’s narrow ravines. Add to this near daily political protests, that bring traffic to a halt with barricades and can shut down whole sections of the city. Recently, two of the three main bridges to the north (on our side of the city) have been out of commission after one collapsed when critical bolts were pilfered. So when I woke up this morning, craving a hearty pancake breakfast, convincing Paul to brave the traffic for butter, milk, or any other breakfast staple was a no-go. This recipe emerged from the bounty of our backyard; toasted coconut from our coconut tree and fresh-as-they-come eggs from Paul’s chickens. These Fresh Coconut Pancakes are absolutely delicious, custardy, and with just the right amount of chew, a perfect start to a rainy day.
Rich and Salty Coconut Blondies
Blondies, for those of you unfamiliar, are a brilliant dessert creation that takes a chocolate chip cookie, and mashes it into bar form, reminiscent of its brownie cousin. My Mom made blondies for us growing up, and they have remained a key dessert on my easy-and-failsafe shortlist; requiring only that you dump ingredients into one bowl, mix, add in some treats, and bake. These Rich and Salty Coconut Blondies are a densely gooey treat. As many of our North American readers have cool temperatures this long weekend, consider firing up your oven to bake these decadent Rich and Salty Coconut Blondies.
Blueberry Coconut Baked Scottish Oats
If you are following Haitian news, you may have seen that the country is currently in political crisis; with violent and unpredictable protests shutting down normal life and movement. For our family, this has meant that we are in day eight of sheltering-in-place at our home in Port-au-Prince with our two little kids. We are safe, grateful, and praying for a peaceful resolution soon. As we pass the time and try to keep everyone’s moods up, and without access to stores or markets, we are digging deep into creative kid-friendly back-of-the-pantry cooking. Thanks to a recent family visitor’s gifts of dried blueberries and various breakfast grains, we were in luck. This morning’s raging success…Blueberry Coconut Baked Scottish Oats! This easy and adaptable dish is hearty, moist, delicious, nutty, and not too sweet. The Scottish oats and coconut give it a more chewy, dense, and moist texture. The kids were in heaven. And as parents…we earned 45 minutes of sweet, sweet peace and quiet together as they contentedly marched around our courtyard singing and stuffing their faces. So even if you don’t find yourself stuck at home for an 8th day of protests, consider this pantry-inspired take on classic baked oatmeal.
40 Minute Cinnamon Buns
Seizing the opportunity to be sweet and let my sick husband sleep in, I decided to get up early and make one of his favorite breakfast treats, cinnamon buns. Despite the best of intentions, I slept in, shoot! A little frantic, I needed a quick turn-around recipe if I was going to deliver. Rather than the traditional yeast variety, I opted for my tried and true 40 Minute Cinnamon Buns. I discovered this recipe a few years ago while surreptitiously reading a magazine article over someone’s shoulder on a plane. They turned the page before I could finish reading the intriguing looking quick cinnamon bun recipe, so I looked the recipe up when I got home, and here they are, delicious, moist and tangy cinnamon buns, ready in 40 minutes or less, no kneading required!
Easy Coconut Baked Oatmeal
We have been in Honduras this past week for work meetings with our regional colleagues. One thing that makes our organization unique, is an emphasis on cultivating relationships and being a good host. In this spirit, our Honduras-based supervisors welcomed us into their home with delicious home cooked meals, among them a scrumptious breakfast of baked oatmeal with fresh strawberries. Not only did we stuff ourselves, but coincidentally, we had been experimenting with our own baked oatmeal recipe over the past month. Our version of Easy Coconut Baked Oatmeal is a hearty, crunchy, warm and filling breakfast. This simple to make breakfast dish will perfume your house with cinnamon and oats and is best hot out of the oven, doused in cold milk, a perfect meal to share with guests.
If you want to try out a spring-ish baked oatmeal recipe, check out our Strawberry Rhubarb Baked Oatmeal.
