Coconut Cashew Banana Bread

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Whole wheat flour, coconut milk, coconut oil, bananas, and cashews bake up into this delicious, lightly-sweetened bread that is great for breakfast or for snacking.

Once upon a time I made banana bread on a weekly basis.

Once upon a time a 9×13 pan could last for three meals for our family.

Once upon a time, I had to freeze milk because we couldn’t drink up a gallon before it went bad.

Those times? Are long gone. I haven’t had bananas last long enough to make banana bread in quite awhile. The kids love them to snack on; FishBoy16 uses them in his daily smoothies. For some odd reason, this week, there were six bananas to be used up.

Between Easter and recipe development, I have felt the excess of food and ingredients everywhere I turn. This week, I made up my mind to deal with some of it. The bananas were the first to go.

While I have many different banana recipes to rely on — Coconut Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, Banana Pecan Coffeecake, and Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting — I decided to try something different.

I wanted something lightly-sweetened. The kids have been great about not going overboard since we went off our sugar fast, but there’s been an increase in bad attitudes that has me wondering.

I wanted something whole-grain. I know that I feel better when there’s at least 50% whole grain flour. We ran out of whole wheat pastry flour recently, and I’m feeling it.

I also wanted something dairy-free. I had an odd reaction to Easter dinner this past weekend that I think was due to excess cream and half-and-half.

So, I took the Cinnamon Banana Bread recipe from my freezer cookbook and tweaked it a little. I basically took the flavors of Monkey Salad and put them in a bread. Can you say Yum-O?!

I used both coconut oil and coconut milk in the batter and topped the loaves with chopped cashews. You can mix the cashews into the batter, but I put the cashews on top so that I could easily leave a loaf plain for the folks who don’t care for or can’t have nuts. Do what you will.

I also reduced the amount of sugar, relying on the nuts, coconut and banana to add extra sweetness. During our sugar fast I did make banana bread without any sugar or sweetener. It definitely effects the texture, so I wanted to make sure there was some sugar in this bread. I used demerara which is the least processed of cane sugar products.

This recipe makes three loaves. I’d suggest that you eat one and freeze the others. My people ate two loaves in just a few hours. Ahem. See why I can’t keep milk in the house?

Recipe: Coconut Cashew Banana Bread

Ingredients

6 bananas, mashed
3 large eggs
3/4 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 cups demerara sugar
14-ounce can light coconut milk (I use Trader Joe’s)
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cups roasted and unsalted cashews, optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray three loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray
In a very large bowl, blend the bananas, coconut oil, eggs, and sugar until mostly smooth. Add the coconut milk and stir.
Add the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold together until well mixed.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Coarsely chop the cashews and sprinkle those over the top of the batter. Press down slightly to adhere.
Bake the loaves for about 1 hour, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Transfer the pans to a rack and let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the breads from the pans and place on a rack to cool completely.
Freezing instructions: Wrap each cooled loaf in plastic wrap. Place two wrapped loaves in a freezer bag and freeze.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)

Cooking time: 1 hour(s)

Number of servings (yield): 36

My rating 5 stars: ????? 1 review(s)

About Jessica Fisher

I believe great meals don't have to be complicated or expensive. There's a better way, and it won't take all afternoon.

Comments

Lee says
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Looks good! My banana bread has a TON of sugar in it- I’ve been wanting to reduce the sugar, but haven’t been sure how to do it. Thanks.
- Jaime says
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  I just made a cooking light banana bread and reduced the sugar because bananas were very ripe. Also used whole wheat flour and oatmeal for part of flour and noone noticed! I feel your pain, we go through food like an army! All 4 of my kids even the 3 yr old are going through a growth spurt. Sigh. Oh well
- Jessica Fisher says
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  During our sugar fast, I made banana bread without any sweetener. The texture was pretty weird. It looked like a sponge, or more like a chamois that you use to wash the car. It was really soft! And it tasted fine, but I think the sugar does effect the texture.
- em says
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  i make this with one cup cashew/almond flour, one cup coconut flour, one cup rice/tapioca flour, one cup maize/ gluten free flour, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cream of tartar 1tsp xanthum gum(dont know if this is help or hinderance) 1+/- cup chia seed, 1 sachet yeast mixed together in bowl
  add I cup cold water and 1 cup very hot water and mix with dry – add more hot if required
  mix to smooth paste
  add half cup coconut oil and mix in to the dough
  blend 1/2 cup dates 2 banana 1 pear some mixed nuts (any or all of which is optional) with cup of hot water or 1/2 cup apple juice & 1/4 cup cider vinegar
  add this to the dough (or half the dough) and mix
  separate into baking sheets (i take a handful and roll into shape put on tray close to the next one and so on, or wind into bagel shapes)
  leave in warm place while over heats to 140 degrees
  after about 15 minutes bake in oven for an hour or til golden brown and cooked inside
  sometimes a little wet so tip out upside down onto baking grill and put back in oven for ten minutes
Karla says
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I pinned this recipe a while ago and just happened to have a bunch of ripe bananas yesterday, so I made this. I can never make a recipe as-written, though! Here are my changes, and we all thought it was really good:
1c coconut sugar
full-fat coconut milk
rice flour (3c) + flaxseed (1c) + gf flour (2c)
1 1/2t cinnamon
1c dark chocolate chips
didn’t bother roasting the cashews.
Thanks for the inspiration!
- Jessica Fisher says
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  Thanks for sharing your adaptation!

Coconut Cashew Banana Bread