A few weeks ago, when we were cooking our “tropical” recipes from Florida and Bermuda, we decided to try a tropical twist version of banana bread. This version is very different from any of those we tried before and when I saw it on Katerina’s blog, Diethood, I knew we had to add it to our quest.
Miss A, my banana bread assistant chef, was at the ready with her pastry blender to sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
In a separate bowl we added the coconut oil and brown sugar. 
Once the oil and sugar were combined, we added the bananas, milk and vanilla. 
After a smooth batter formed, we slowly added the dry ingredients to the mix. Then it was time to add some more tropical flair – coconut flakes! 
Miss A took care of folding them in for us. 
Then we poured it into our loaf pan and it was ready to bake. We skipped the step for nuts to keep it more consistent with the rest of our breads (and we’re not big fans of nuts in banana bread). 
We baked the bread for an hour at 350F. 
The result was this beautifully golden loaf that smelled so wonderfully tropical. Bananas and coconuts…it doesn’t get much more tropical than that. 
The bread was delish! It had more of a bread texture than a muffin texture and the hints of coconut upped the level of sweetness. Mr. N really enjoyed the bread. He especially liked the crust on this version – something he normally doesn’t care for on other breads. Miss A, Dad and I also enjoyed the coconut banana bread. It was a nice change-up on the traditional banana bread recipe. 
Now the only question is, how will it stack up in our quest? We made sure to freeze a few slices that we’ll use in our final taste test. Until then, many thanks to Katerina! And if you haven’t already, be sure to check out her site. Her photography alone will make you salivate.
Now I’m off to have sweet dreams of the tropics.
View this recipe: Coconut Banana Bread
Eat, Play, Love 
Oh yum – this looks so moist! I love the coconut twist, we are definitely going to have to try this one… recipe book marked! 🙂
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Thanks! I hope that you like it. It was a nice twist on an old favorite. 🙂
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your little assistant is so adorable…I would like to try this with my daughter, but first she needs to read this post too.
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Thank you Raquel! I hope you and your daughter enjoy it as much as we did. 🙂
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This looks wonderful!
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Thanks JamieAnne!
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Mmmm I can almost smell it through the screen! 🙂
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It had an amazing aroma!
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I love a tropical twist on ANYTHING! The coconut oil looks luscious in this recipe. Can’t wait to try it!
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Happy anniversary again. 🙂 Thanks Geni!
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P.S. Thank you so much for the shout out!! ♥
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You’re welcome. We love your site (and recipes!). 🙂
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Yaaaaay! I’m so glad you liked it!! Your little one is just ADORABLE! I love that photo with the big bowl. 🙂
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Thanks Kate! We definitely enjoyed this. 🙂
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Love the look of concentration on Miss A’s face while folding the batter. Looks very yum!
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Yummy! I love tropical banana bread but never tried it quite like this. It looks wonderful, and your little helper looks so into making the bread! 🙂
I just finished making mango banana muffins with a mango glaze. They’re cooling now. I’ll have to try this recipe sometime too! 🙂
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I love the tropical twist on the banana bread, it looks and sounds amazing. The photo of Miss A pouring the milk in the bowl is absolutely adorable. She’s such a great sous chef!
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She’s my bud. Mr. N likes to help more with meals, but Miss A really gets into the baking. Maybe she can teach me to bake a cake one of these days. LOL.
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very nice combi of banana and coconut….and the little cute chef has added lot more to this recipe…nice 🙂
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Thanks! She’s a great little helper. It’s funny because her brother is a much bigger banana bread fan than she is, but she sure likes to make them with me. 🙂
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I love the coconut here – must make it really moist and delicious – going to try this for my oldest daughter – she is s coco ‘nut”
Mary x
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Awesome! I hope that she likes it. 🙂
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I’m surprised the milk isn’t coconut milk too – perhaps that would be venturing into the realms of “coconut overkill” but who knows. I’ll be interested to see how this stacks up against the others. You know I’m eagerly waiting for the final vote whenever it might be so I can make the “winner” for myself! It better be the best darn banana bread I ever had in my life too, after all this wait, or I’ll hold you responsible! 😀
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Oh the pressure! LOL! We’ll make sure you get a good one. 🙂 I think we have five or so more recipes to go in our quest. There are tons of recipes out there. It’s amazing! And I hadn’t thought of coconut milk. Hmmm. You’re giving me ideas.
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five… “more”? Whoa – that’s quite a mission, I hadn’t quite realised you were doing such a detailed experiment! Nice one 🙂 Did I read correctly that you’re freezing a bit of each one? And then going to have a massive banana bread blow-out taste test in a few weeks? Mmm, plates and plates of ‘nana bread. Wish I could be there 😉
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Yup…we’re gunna have a banana bread feeding frenzy! 🙂
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The photographs of Miss A are beautiful and the addition of coconut sounds great.
🙂 Mandy
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Thanks Mandy!
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I love how that bowl is bigger than your daughter!
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Hee hee. Yep…most things are still bigger than her. She’s our little peanut.
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That little banana bread assistant chef is just too cute! I think you have a winner with this one, a tropical twist is great for a summer bread. I’m a crust loving gal and if Mr. N ate this crust, then it’s got to be good!!
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It’s definitely a nice summery twist to the bread. I love summer. 🙂
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Banana and coconut is a delicious tropical combination and I like the sunlit photos of the bread outside – it looks moist and textured. Your daughter kills me… those expressions are just priceless…especially the one where she pouring the milk – love it, love it, love it !!
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She kills us too. When she used to keep us up through the night, Mike and I would take turns. Each getting equally frustrated. I remember one night he walked back into our room smirking and said, “She’s lucky she’s got those cute little curls.” Yep. She’s going to be trouble this one. LOL.
This bread was a great texture and I liked the extra sweetness provided by the coconut. 🙂
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You and Miss A did a wonderful job on this tropical banana bread. I see Miss A has a true talent for bread making and I can’t wait to see her come up with her own great recipe. Very nice.. and yes I mean it even though I don’t eat bread lol
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You know she probably could come up with her own recipe at this point. She’s been on hand for every banana bread I’ve made I think. Or close to it. And while Mr. N isn’t always around for the baking – he’s definitely around for the eating. LOL.
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