Banana Coconut Bread or Muffins

The coconut in this recipe is a surprising and delicious change to the standard banana bread recipe. Feel free to add sprinkled chopped nuts, such as macadamia or walnuts, to the batter and top of these before baking. Keep an eye on these towards the end of baking to make sure the coconut does not burn.

Makes 8 muffins or 1 loaf

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
¾ cup sweetened flaked coconut, slightly toasted in a dry skillet

Special equipment: a muffin tin with 8 (½ cup) muffin cups; paper liners or 1 loaf pan

Preparation:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffin cups with liners or grease loaf pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Whisk together bananas, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, almond extract and ½ cup coconut in a large bowl until combined well, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened.

For muffins, divide batter among lined muffin cups and sprinkle with remaining ¼ cup coconut. For bread, spread batter in loaf pan and sprinkle with remaining coconut. Bake until muffins or bread are puffed and golden, about 25 minutes for muffins, 35 minutes for bread. Transfer muffins to a rack and cool slightly.

Recipe developed by Jill Polay.
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