Joey's Hawaiian Banana Bread

 

 I recently found myself with a few extra bananas that were bordering on being over ripe. And what do you do with over ripe bananas? You make banana bread, of course! And since I can never leave well enough alone (as my Mom used to say), I decided to switch it up and have a little fun with the flavors. 

 So I began to think of which flavors I love to pair with bananas. Hm.. Chocolate? or maybe peanut butter?

 And then I remembered a cake I had made years ago called Dr Bird Cake which combined the flavors of banana and pineapple. (It's actually one of my all time favorite cakes, tbh). That sounds perfect! Actually, while I'm at it, why not go full Hawaiian and add coconut too? Boom. That's the answer. 

 I figured I could just use my go-to Banana Bread recipe and add pineapple and coconut to it, but it's always nice to try new recipes, dontcha think? This recipe is my version of a recipe I found on food.com. It's very light and sweet and definitely blurs the line between banana bread and banana cake, but either way it's absolutely delicious. It's perfect for a nice brunch, an afternoon tea, or just when you feel like a little sweet treat. 

Time to buy more bananas... I think I need to make this one again!

 

 

 

1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
2 eggs
1 tsp rum extract
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup diced fresh pineapple

1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Grease and flour just the bottom of a 9x5x3 loaf pan. Set aside.
Cream sugar and butter very well. Add bananas, eggs, and rum extract.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
Blend flour mixture into banana mixture, making sure not to overmix.

Gently fold in diced pineapples and coconut.
Turn batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack.

 

 

 

Tips:

 People have asked why I specifically say to grease and flour the bottom of the loaf pans, but not the sides. The truth is you can grease the whole pan if you want to. But I find that your bread bakes up with a cleaner edge if you just do the bottom. If you're worried about it sticking to the sides, just run a knife around the side edges of the pan before you turn it out onto a wire rack for cooling. 

 You can serve it plain as it is, but if you want to get creative, trying toasting a slice then topping it with a pat of butter. HEAVEN. For a little more wow factor, drizzle it with a cream cheese glaze. 

 This recipe can easily be doubled. Bake two and freeze one!