Chef Dawn Buchholz
You see them getting ripe. You smell them. Beautiful, yellow, organic bananas destined to grace your granola or top your peanut butter toast. And then, well, they’re riper than that now (a bit more fragrant) so … they’ll sweeten up your smoothie. But what about the rest of the brown-spotted bunch? Time goes by and Oops! They went too far.
Never fear. These (shall we call them mature?) bananas have been elevated to that gorgeous key ingredient in banana bread! I love classic banana bread but decided I’d snazz it up a little by changing the flavor profile. In the pantry I saw the organic unsweetened shredded coconut and then searched and found the real flavor booster I craved: Mango Chutney.
To create this Ban-ango-nut Bread I started with the basic Betty Crocker recipe but swapped coconut milk for the buttermilk, coconut oil for the shortening, added toasted coconut to the batter plus a couple TBLS zesty mango chutney. I also used it for the oh-so-yummy glaze which was excellent for adhering more toasted coconut to the top of these sweet little loaves.
My favorite counter top appliance was there waiting to accommodate my two mini loaf pans. I set the Cuisinart Steam Convection Oven Plus to Bake Steam at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Cooled them on a rack, and while still warm, drizzled the tasty glaze and let it soak into the loaves. The glaze looked thick and sticky enough to hold the extra lovely toasted coconut sprinkled over top. So I did!
Let cool completely (this will be difficult) to afford a cleaner slice. Enjoy these Caribbean flavors and perhaps it’ll inspire you to take a classic and change it up!
- Toast ½ cup unsweetened coconut until fragrant and lightly browned and set aside
- Mix together:
- ⅓ c coconut oil
- 2 eggs
- ⅔ c sugar
- Add:
- 2 very ripe bananas mashed
- 2 TBLS mango chutney
- Combine dry ingredients:
- 2 c flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt (pink Himalayan)
- Add 2 - 4 TBLS toasted coconut
- Pour into 2 parchment lined mini loaf pans.
- Set oven to Bake Steam for 35 minutes at 350.
- Combine 2 TBLS mango chutney + ½ cup powdered sugar. Add a dash of coconut milk to thin as necessary. Finish with 1 TBLS soft butter for creaminess. Whip together and set aside.
- Place baked loaves on cooling rack for 5 min. Remove bread from pans and set on rack with baking tray underneath to catch the dripping glaze.
- Drizzle glaze and let soak into and run down the edges of warm loaves. As glaze begins to set, sprinkle toasted coconut atop each loaf and let stand to rest.