Tropical Banana Bread

Can you ever have too many variations of banana bread in your arsenal? My answer is, NO. This Tropical Banana Bread recipe is definitely going to be your new fave!

I LOVE banana bread. I have several recipes on the blog, but this Tropical Banana Bread is definitely my favorite so far. It might even rival Chrissy Teigen’s from her most recent cookbook (maybe).

What makes this banana bread tropical you ask? A few important things take it from ordinary to extraordinary. First of all, the freeze-dried fruit. I know I’ve talked about my obsession with it before, but I LOVE using freeze-dried fruit in baked goods.

From Strawberry Shortcake Biscuits to Apple Cinnamon Donuts, it often makes an appearance here on MMC. For this recipe, I chose a tropical mix of banana, pineapple, and mango.

If you can’t find a blend similar to that, you could use all of one flavor or make your own mix. Once pulverized, it comes out to be about 1/2 of fruit dust, as I like to call it.

The other key ingredient is shredded coconut. You could toast it if you like, but I decided to leave it as-is for texture purposes, but the flavor would be outstanding.

All you need is a slather of softened salted butter, and you’ve got yourself an insanely delicious breakfast or mid-day snacking situation.

Try my Cherry Chocolate Banana Bread if you’re feeling something chocolatey instead!

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Yield: 12 Slices

Tropical Banana Bread

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Can you ever have too many variations of banana bread in your arsenal? My answer is, NO. This Tropical Banana Bread is definitely going to be your new fave!

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Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose
• 1 - 1.2 oz bag of freeze-dried tropical fruit**
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork until smooth (from about 3 bananas)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Instructions

1. Empty the contents of the freeze-dried fruit into a food processor or blender. Pulse until the fruit is completely pulverized and resembles flour. You should have about 1/2 cup. Alternatively, you can crush them in the bag with a rolling pin, just make sure you crush them really fine.
   
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, fruit powder, salt, and baking powder.
   
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the melted butter and sugar until just combined. Beat in the eggs, bananas and vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the bowl and mix on low speed until just combined. Do not over-mix. Gently stir in the coconut.
   
4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center is mostly clean with just a few crumbs attached and the top is golden brown. Do not overcook. Let the loaf cool in the pan for about ten minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.
   
   
   Notes
   **I used a bag of Simple Truth tropical freeze-dried fruit from Kroger that had bananas, pineapples, and mango. If you can't find a blend, you could use all of one flavor or make your own mix. Once pulverized, it comes out to be about 1/2 of fruit dust.

Notes

Notes
**I used a bag of Simple Truth tropical freeze-dried fruit from Kroger that had bananas, pineapples, and mango. If you can't find a blend, you could use all of one flavor or make your own mix. Once pulverized, it comes out to be about 1/2 of fruit dust.

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