Tropical Banana Bread

Kate's Tropical Banana Bread

Banana bread was one of my early ventures into cooking / baking from scratch.  My very first batch was pretty darn good (to my surprise), but over time I have experimented with new ingredients and differing measurements until I finally achieved the OMG factor.  These days, my Banana Nut Bread is the stuff of legend.  One day I will teach my methods to a young apprentice who may carry on the traditions.  Until then, my recipe remains a guarded secret – heavily protected by several other recipes in a stack of papers behind my flour canisters.

I will share this delightful little variation that I came up with yesterday, though, inspired only slightly by a shortage of overripe bananas in my kitchen.  Get out all of your mixing bowls and measuring cups; you will need them!  Warning: for me, baking from scratch also involves working entirely by hand.  I do not use blenders, mixers, or processors in the combining of ingredients.  That usually means my arms are pretty tired when I am done.  Hopefully, you are in a little better shape.  This version is still in the testing and development phases, but the early taste tests have been extremely successful.  Keep the wooden spoon handy to fend off hungry onlookers!

Tropical Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 Cups – All Purpose Flour

1½ teaspoons – Salt

1 Tablespoon – Baking Soda

1 teaspoon – Baking Powder

1½ Cups – Butter, softened

2 Cups – Brown Sugar, lightly packed

¾ Cup – Granulated Sugar

6 Eggs, beaten

3 Cups – Overripe Bananas, mashed

1½ Cups – Pineapple, crushed and well drained

1 teaspoon – Vanilla Extract

1½ Cups – Pecans, chopped

½ Cup – Dates, chopped

1 Cup – Coconut, shredded/flaked (plus a handful to sprinkle over loaves)

Preparation

• In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and sugar until dough like substance forms
• Add eggs, bananas, pineapple, vanilla, and and flour mixture to butter and sugar and mix until well combined
• Stir in pecans, dates, and coconut and mix well
• Pour mixture into well-greased mini-loaf pans and sprinkle a few coconut flakes over each loaf, keeping away from edges (produces 7-8 mini loaves)
• Bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of the loaves comes out clean
• Let cool completely before serving (about 2 hours)

The Troops Lined Up for Inspection!

Serve

• Makes a great snack warmed slightly with butter and a glass of cold milk
• Or just eat it as is, no butter needed!
• Keep bread refrigerated, will also freeze for later use, though I have never had any left to freeze.

Tips

• Be sure to drain the pineapple extremely well.  Press as much moisture out as possible.  The bread is extremely moist already.  I did not press enough moisture out of the pineapple on the first round and the center simply would not finish baking.
• Do not melt the butter before mixing; just make sure it is nice and soft.  I hand mix with a wooden spoon.  You can use a mixer if you have one.
• I measure out all of my ingredients and even whip the eggs before I start creaming the butter and sugar, which means I dirty a lot of bowls; but when I do it that way, I do not forget ingredients (there are quite a few to keep track of!).
• Start checking the bread after about 35 minutes.  My oven bakes a little unevenly, so I usually need to shift pans around and such, and depending on a million factors, the bread may bake faster or slower than expected.
• Seriously, cool the bread completely before you eat it.  It actually gets better after sitting in the refrigerator for a day.  Waiting is hard, but you will not be sorry.

Let me know how it turns out!

Enjoy, and happy cooking,

Kate