Banana Bread with Dark Chocolate and Coconut

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Banana Loaf with Chocolate and Coconut

I am well aware that I have posted other banana bread quickbread recipes (like this one and this one), but I had to try one more.  I love breakfast/dessert/anytime sweet bread that I can whip up quickly then slice and have for a few days.  This combo caught my eye, and I adjusted my recipe to use dark chopped chocolate and decreased the sugar to make it not so sweet. 

We have had this for breakfast, for dessert  and as an afternoon snack.  A slice is plenty because it isn’t cloyingly sweet or rich.  For me, it checks many boxes.  If you are coconut averse, substitute an equal amount of chopped toasted pecans or walnuts.

Ready to eat!

Banana Bread with Dark Chocolate and Coconut

Makes One Loaf (can be easily doubled for 2 loaves of bread)

Ingredients

• ½ cup + 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• ½ stick soft butter
• 1 egg
• ¾  cup mashed ripe bananas (one very large banana or enough to equal close to ¾ cup
• ¼ cup buttermilk or kefir, room temperature
• ½  tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 ¼  cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ¼  tsp. Sea salt
• ⅛ tsp. baking soda
• ½ cup chopped bittersweet chocolate (I started with Guittard dark chips but cut them smaller)
• ⅓ cup shredded unsweetened coconut 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350, put the rack in the middle and grease the bottom only of a 9 x 5 loaf pan.  

Cream sugar with butter for three minutes or until well combined.  Add in egg. Add banana, Kefir or buttermilk and vanilla.Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and soda until just combined. Add flaked coconut and chocolate chips.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan (I use my Pam substitute) and even out the top.  Bake mid oven for 45 minutes until top and edges are browned and the center is cooked when tested with a toothpick

Cool for five minutes in the bread pan.  Jiggle to loosen the sides and remove the bread from the pan, cool it on a wire rack.  Leftover bread can be tightly sealed and kept at room temperature for a couple of days. I even froze a half loaf for a month because I got into a baking frenzy for a while this spring.