Eggless Coconutty Banana Bread

I love to bake..I mean, I am no expert, but I like to try out new recipes, especially when the results are yummy! I usually try and bake something every week, because granola bars and trail mixes can go only so far in satisfying my son's snack appetite.
This last weekend, I wanted to bake up some banana bread, because, you guessed it -- there were some pretty ripe bananas on my counter. I tweaked the recipe that I had for banana muffins and came up with a keeper..I have tried it out twice now and both time the entire loaf was gone within two days!




Ingredients: 
* 1 C Whole wheat pastry or whole wheat flour
* ½ C all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* ½ teaspoon salt
* 3 bananas, mashed
* ¾ C sugar
* ⅓ C light sour cream
* ⅓ C coconut oil
* ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
* ½ tsp ground cloves
* ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
* ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
* ½ C unsweetened coconut
* handful of chopped nuts
* handful of semi sweet chocolate chips (optional)
* a couple of drops coconut essence (optional)

 Method: 
* Preheat the oven to 350°F.
* Mix the flours, the baking soda, baking powder and the spices in a small bowl.
* In another bowl, add the mashed bananas, the oil, sour cream, sugar and essence, if using.
* Mix the wet ingredients really well.
* Add the dry ingredients to the wet, a third at a time and mix in gently.
* Be careful not to beat the batter to death, we want a light loaf, not a brick.
* Once all the flour has been incorporated, mix in the coconut, nuts and chocolate chips.
* Pour into a greased 9 X 5 loaf pan and bake in the oven for 50 - 60 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.
* Cool the loaf completely before slicing it.

Notes : 
You can substitute yogurt for the sour cream.
I added about 1/2 C of sugar instead of the 3/4 C in the recipe. If you want the bread to be sweeter, then you can add the entire amount.
For an easy vegan version, just replace the sour cream with tofu sour cream or soy yogurt.
The riper the bananas, the sweeter they will be and richer the taste of the bread. You could also use less sugar.

Enjoy!