Coconut Banana Bread!

Last Saturday I woke up extremely early and thought I would throw some muffins in the oven while I cleaned the house. . .thus I would end up with a delicious breakfast treat to cap off the house cleaning.
It is getting to be the time of year where it seems we end up with an over-ripe banana at the end of each bunch. So, luckily, I had three over-ripe bananas saved up in the fridge dying to become my favorite bread/muffins (okay actually this recipe is just somewhere in the top 5).
Some of you may have noticed that I am a bit obsessed with Mark Bittman well the obsession continues because this bread if from his How to Cook Everything cookbook and it has become my default banana bread. . .I would have never thought to put coconut in banana bread but I am glad Bittman did and if you have some bananas and coconut lying around you should give this recipe a try too.

Whisking dry ingredients

Creaming butter and sugar

Eggs and banana

Add wet to dry

How cute are these. . .Ikea a few years ago

Ready for baking.

Delicious!!!

Mark Bittman’s Banana Bread
Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

Ingredients
8 tablespoons butter, plus some for greasing the pan (I always use unsalted)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 sugar
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork until smooth
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I didn't use)
1/2 grated dried unsweetened coconut (I didn't have quite enough unsweetened so I mixed in about a tablespoon of sweetened coconut)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan. (I used a muffin tin)

Mix together the dry ingredients. Cream the butter and beat in the eggs and bananas (out of habit I usually cream the butter and sugar together and have never had a problem). Stir this mixture into the dry ingredients; do not mix more than necessary. Gently stir in the vanilla, nuts, and coconut (I typically mix the coconut in with the dry ingredients first).
Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 45 to 60 (about 35 for muffins) minutes, until nicely browned. A toothpick inserted in the center of the bread will come out fairly clean, but banana bread is excessively moist compared to other breads. Do not overcook. cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. To store, wrap in waxed paper (I freeze them and they reheat in the microwave wonderfully).