when in uganda...

...make pineapple coconut banana bread!

oh yes.
i'm feeling very bake-y these days what with the rain and cooler weather {oh hello jeans and socks and sweaters. in africa! crazy.} and some lovely guests arriving soon. and so, my freezer is as full of muffins and breakfast breads as i can cram - which isn't a lot because our fridge/freezer is about the size of 2 bar fridges. i kid you not.

our house girl doesn't "get" these breakfast breads i make. she says they look and taste and smell like cake. i told her that it's true. they pretty much are cake, but if we call them "breakfast bread" then it's okay to eat for breakfast. works for me.

i hear that the weather isn't much warmer in ontario {where i'm from} so make yourself a cuppa and get baking!

pineapple coconut banana bread
recipe adapted from Laura's Best Recipes

ingredients
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
5 very ripe bananas, coarsely mashed
6 oz. canned crushed pineapple, drained liquid {or if you live somewhere like me where the fresh pineapple is out-of-this-world-amazing, use that instead. i just used my kitchen scissors and snipped the pineapple into little tidbit-sized pieces - about 1 cups' worth}
5 oz. canned coconut cream {not coconut milk although you can use it if you can't find coconut cream, just add an extra 1/4 tsp of vanilla}
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped nut of your choice {the original recipe calls for macadamia nuts which would have been amazing, but i already had pecans so i used those}

this is how we do it
preheat oven to 350F. grease and flour 2 loaf pans
cream butter, 2 of the mashed bananas and sugars in a large bowl.
mix in eggs.
in a separate bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients.
mash remaining bananas thoroughly in another bowl and fold in pineapple, coconut cream and vanilla.
fold both banana mixtures into the dry ingredients - don't over mix!
fold in coconut and nuts.
pour batter into your prepared pans {i always forget to "prepare" the pans first so i'm usually greasing and flouring my pans at this point}.
bake for about 55-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
let the bread cool on a rack and turn out of the pan after 15 minutes. let cool completely.

enjoy!

*professional food taster, noah strickland gives this bread two thumbs up and asks "why do i only get 1 piece of bread? why can't i have another?" {because mommy is mean and i'm saving the rest of this loaf for breakfast tomorrow. and freezing the other loaf.}