Coconut Mango Banana Bread

The toasted coconut on top of this banana bread adds a brilliantly sweet crunchy contrast to the incredibly moist banana bread. The coconut will be light brown for a smaller loaf, but it will get darker and crunchier for larger loaves due to extended baking time.  I made 4 little loaves so the coconut was just lightly toasted, but you may want to cover a big loaf with foil part of the baking time to keep the coconut on top from getting TOO dark … or stir the coconut into the batter instead of putting it on top, but if you do that, it won’t have that beautiful crunch factor. I’ve tried it both ways and shared it with my friend Amy at work who loves coconut and she loved it both ways, but she really liked the toasted coconut on top ( which was totally the way I preferred it!)

Has coconut changed over the years? I don’t remember it being almost addictively sweet, soft and crunchy on baked goods. I remember stringiness, a texture that I absolutely hated and would avoid at all costs. But for my daughter’s birthday, on her request, I bought some sweetened coconut for the tops of the buns we made and I just love it–IF it’s on TOP and especially if it’s TOASTED. If it’s inside something baked, I can handle it now and I can appreciate the flavor, I’m still not thrilled with the texture.

Anyway, this is banana bread at its best. It’s soft, super moist, super fruity, super tropical, super delicious. It’s a refreshing change from the chocolate versions we seem to tend towards most of the time at my house.

Coconut Mango Banana Bread

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 29 minutes
• Yield: 1 large loaf or 3 - 4 small loaves 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Wet ingredients:

• 3 mashed ripe bananas (about 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 3 Tablespoons golden rum
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 egg

Dry ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Stir in: 1/2 – 1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and chopped

For the top:

• about 1/4 cup shredded sweetened coconut
• about 2 Tablespoons raw (turbinado) sugar

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Spray a 9×5 inch loaf pan (or several small ones) with cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mash the banana then stir in the rest of the wet ingredients until everything is mixed well.
3. Sprinkle the dry ingredients on top of the banana mixture, then stir just until well mixed. Fold in the chopped mango.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s), sprinkle with coconut and raw sugar, then bake for 1 hour 15 minutes for a large loaf pan or about 25 – 35 minutes for small ones or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the largest loaf comes out clean.

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Notes

The coconut on top will be light brown for a smaller loaf, but it will get darker and crunchier for larger loaves due to extended baking time. You may want to cover a big loaf with foil part of the time to keep the coconut on top from getting TOO dark … or stir the coconut into the batter instead of putting it on top.

If you want to make the bread a little less moist, use 1/2 of a mango instead of a whole one.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

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This recipe was shared at Thursday’s Treasures, Foodie Friends Friday, What’d you do this weekend? and Weekend Potluck.