Coconut Banana Bread Muffins

I love coconut oil but had never tried it in banana bread. The other night I was making dinner for a friend who can’t eat dairy and wanted a treat to go along with dinner… these were perfect. No buttter, just coconut oil! I have to say this is my new favorite banana bread recipe. It’s amazing. It tastes so clean and sweet and simple. It’s hard to describe but the coconut is amazing and really enhances the banana flavor in a light way. Most of the time when I make banana bread I use lots of cinnamon and nutmeg—which is great—but a completely different flavor than clean and simple banana bread. Try this recipe please!! It’s so so good! I made a loaf of banana bread and a batch of muffins out of it. Also the batter seemed a little thick so I added 1/4 c. of applesauce.

The original recipe is here, called Heavenly Coconut Banana Bread. And yes it is heavenly!

Ingredients:

• 1 c. coconut oil
• 4 large very ripe bananas
• 1 c. light brown sugar
• 1/4 c. white sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 c. flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• (1/4 c. applesauce – my addition)

Preheat oven to 375 and grease and lightly flour two loaf pans or muffin tins or use a non-stick cooking spray with flour like Baker’s Joy. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugars, vanilla, eggs, bananas and coconut oil and beat until creamy and smooth.

Add flour and baking powder and beat at low speed for about a minute, until you have a creamy batter. Stir in your coconut. Pour into greased muffin pan/loaf pan. Do not fill all the way to the top because the bread will raise slightly.

If baking in loaf pans, bake at 375 for one hour (I thought 50-55 mins was best). Insert a tooth pick into the center of the bread (I use bamboo skewers too) and if it comes out clean, your bread is done. If baking in muffin tins, check your muffins at 40 minutes, adjusting cook time accordingly. It usually takes me 50 minutes when using my muffin tins. (I thought 35-40 minutes was right for muffins.) *As noted, I think the times called for are too long for both bread and muffins. My first batch was a little too done. Set your time for 5 minutes earlier and check it to see. Possibly your elevation could effect it too. 

This is the coconut oil I use… from Costco. It’s the best price I’ve ever seen on coconut oil. This stuff is amazing.