When I get up in the morning I like to have some kind of light and sweet bread or muffin with my coffee. One of my favorites is banana bread. This is something that I’ve made dozens if not hundreds of times and is a great way to use up extra bananas when you have them.

This week was one of those that I decided to make banana bread because we ended up with a bunch of bananas that got too ripe. Some in our family are picky about the ripeness of their banana, and if they get too ripe they suddenly become undesirable to them. Some people like to refrigerate or freeze bananas, but when I have time I just make banana bread in these situations.

There are many kinds of banana bread out there, but today I am making something a little different. This one is a Caribbean-inspired banana bread because it has some additional ingredients like coconut, golden raisins, and chopped walnuts. This banana bread is apparently a Caribbean teatime specialty and is pretty easy to make.

For me this turned out wonderfully moist with just the right of banana flavor, not too sweet, and — the best part being — a wonderful crunch from the chopped walnuts. Let me know your thoughts about this one!

Ingredients

Bread

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, soften or Crisco butter flavor shortening
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 3 large ripe banana, mashed
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/3 cup each golden raisin, chopped walnut, and 1/4 shredded unsweetened coconut

Topping

• 2 tbsp. shredded unsweetened coconut
• 2 tbsp. turbinado sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray and lightly flour one 9-inch loaf pan, then set aside.

Place butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Use a handheld mixture to mix all ingredients together. Stir in flour, baking powder, and nutmeg.

Add mashed banana to the creamed mixture, then mix well. Stir in coconut, raisin, and chopped walnut.

Transfer this mixture to a greased and floured 9-inch loaf pan, spreading it evenly. Sprinkle turbinado sugar and coconut all over the top of the loaf. Bake for 55-60 minutes in your preheated oven rotating once for even baking. Check to see if the bread is done by inserting a toothpick in the middle of it. You will know it is done when the toothpick comes out clean or has a few crumbs.

Slice, serve, and enjoy!

Serves 8-10

Did you make this dish? I’d love to know how it turns out! Feel free to like this post and comment or use the hashtag #globaldinein on Instagram. If you would to be notified of upcoming posts, please consider subscribing to my blog!