I love the Hawaiian Islands. I really do. Especially today with its dreary skies and blustery winds.
Since I’m not there but here, I decided to bring Hawaii into my kitchen with this bread. I think it just might work.
One of the things I loved about our trip last spring was this incredible bread that I enjoyed in a little coffee shop around the corner of our hotel in Maui. It was incredibly flavored with coconut, lime, rum, coconut and macadamias. Let me tell you. I enjoyed it more than once.
This is the result of my efforts to recreate those flavors. I think it comes very close, except that it’s not quite as sweet. That works just fine for me. I’m thinking about adding a half cup of molasses next time just to add an additional depth of flavor. I’ll let you know how that goes.
In the meantime, give this version a try. It works equally well as muffins.
Coconut Lime Banana Nut Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat blend flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
2-3 mashed very ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup thickened Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or rum extract
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 Tablespoon cream of coconut
2 Tablespoons orange juice
1 lime finely zested
juice of 1/2 lime
1 cup finely chopped toasted walnuts
1 cup fresh frozen coconut, 1/4 cup reserved
Glaze: 1 1/2 Tablespoons lime or lemon juice
1/2 limes finely zested
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
Preparation: Preheat oven to 350°.Spray a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
Combine flours, salt and baking soda in a small bowl; set aside.
Cream butter and sugar at medium speed until well blended. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each.
Add in mashed bananas, yogurt, extracts and ginger; mix well at low speed. Add in cream of coconut, orange juice, lime zest and juice of 1/2 lime and mix well.
Stir in toasted walnut and coconut until well blended.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and top with 1/4 cup of the reserved coconut.
Bake for approximately 60 minutes.
Prepare the glaze by whisking together the lime juice, zest and the powdered sugar; set aside.
Remove from oven and punch several holes in the top with a skewer. Pour half of the prepared glaze over the bread while it is warm. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a cake rack. Remove from pan and drizzle with the remaining glaze. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Options: You can substitute macadamia nuts for the walnuts, but they are quite expensive around here. Dark rum can be substituted for the orange juice, but since I seldom have any, I just use the orange juice.
Adapted from Cooking Light, September 2007
Sounds great! Such a great treat to get excited for spring!
ooo, now this is my kind of bread! Sounds delicious!
Yum! That sounds delicious! Thank you for the recipe. laurie
Oh, this sounds GOOD. Love it!
Hmmm. I love banana bread and I love coconut/lime stuff. But together? I’m intrigued. My husband hates anything lime so I won’t be making this for him. But I might make this sometime to experiment with friends!
Debbie,
I loved this recipe so much it is featured this week at Wonderful Food Wednesday. Hoping you will come by and link up another wonderful creation!
Kerrie
http://www.familyfoodandtravel.com
This sounds delicious and interesting at the same time. I’m trying it as soon as I can get to the grocery to buy some of the ingredients. BTW ~ is coconut sugar something you buy or make, and what is cream of coconut? I thought I know a lot about cooking but I haven’t heard of these? Thanks for this recipe ~ I can’t wait to try it.
Lori,
I buy coconut sugar made by Madhava and can usually find it at my local Wal Mart or Kroger. It is a granulated sugar (unrefined) made from the buds of the coconut palm. It measures cup for cup to white granulated sugar. I’m addicted!
Cream of Coconut (not coconut oil) is often found with the drink mixers as it is used for pina coladas. It I is high in calories and fairly high in fat so it needs to be used sparingly. It does give great flavor tho.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope this helps.
Kerri,
Thanks for the feature on Wonderful Food Wednesday. I will be by to check that out.