Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze

Wow! This is a delicious banana bread! It is so moist and the coconut gives it such nice texture. The glaze just puts it over the top.

Everyday I receive postings on Facebook from Cooking Light Magazine. And today this was one of them. It was perfect since I had some really bad looking bananas sitting in my fruit bowl (I will not show them to you this time ( See my whole wheat chocolate banana recipe for a visual, only these bananas were worse looking). I think it is fantastic that bad bananas can be used for something as delicious as this bread. And it makes me so happy not to waste precious food. I made one slight change to the original recipe. Instead of the 3 tablespoons of dark rum I used the same amount of apple juice. I was worried that my kids would have detected it and complained about the unusual taste. This way they gobbled it all up. And let me tell you I don't know how you would get 16 slices out of this (Cooking Light states that 1 loaf yields 16 slices). Around here we like a nice chubby slice so I think 10-12 servings are more realistic. Yum!

Ingredients for the bread:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt

3 tablespoons apple juice (or dark rum)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut  (plus some for the top)

Preheat oven to 350  degrees F.

Coat a 9x5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, apple juice and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture and beat at low speed just until moist. Stir in the coconut. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan and sprinkle with some coconut. Bake 1 hour or until a wooden pick comes out clean (start testing after 55 minutes. I took my bread out at 57 minutes. If the top gets too dark cover with some aluminum foil the last 5 minutes.)

Cool in pan for about 10 minutes then remove onto a wire rack.

Now for the Lime Glace:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice

Combine powdered sugar and juice, stirring with a whisk, drizzle over warm bread. Cool completely on wire rack.

Makes one loaf, about 12 slices

(Recipe from Cooking Light, September 2007)