by Jen
on September 16, 2012
How’s that for a recipe title? It could also be known as “open the pantry and fridge and throw in everything that you have banana bread.” I had two bananas that were destined for the trash can if I didn’t find a use for them yesterday. I am a little over traditional banana bread so I started googling “different banana bread” recipes in search of new inspiration. That led me to the idea of coconut banana bread. I came across this recipe for banana bread made with coconut oil and then went a little crazy with modifications.

Coconut Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
I loosely used the original recipe as a guide but made a lot of changes. I was joking with my dad yesterday about how forgiving banana bread is. I feel like as long as you use a basic recipe template, you can get as creative as you’d like and it always seems to turn out. Into the base recipe went coconut oil in addition to pumpkin, chocolate chips, some whole wheat flour and shredded coconut. What resulted what the best banana bread that I’ve ever made.
It’s super moist thanks to the inclusion of pumpkin, sour cream and the coconut oil. The chocolate chips and shredded coconut push it into the territory of really, really good. I used half whole wheat four and reduced the sugar in the recipe. I don’t think anyone could tell that there is any whole wheat flour in this bread because there are so many other delicious things going on.

Coconut Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Coconut Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
(Inspired by Chez Us)
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