This banana bread was my undoing.

I’ve easily made at least a dozen versions of banana bread in my lifetime; they ranged from decent to delicious. This one, however, almost landed me in a strait-jacket. Generally, I have fairly impressive self-control. After a recipe has caught my eye, I will bake it up with an embarrassing level of gusto, savour the taste-testing morsels, and then, reluctantly, move on.

…gifting the leftovers to my coworkers.

But this time around, I ate the entire loaf. Single-handedly. In 3 days.

Well, more like 2.5 days.

I binged and gorged and drooled and I heard the banana-bread-angels sing.

It is more moist than any other banana bread that I have ever baked or eaten, has a lovely coconut flavour that is not overbearing, and I have banned myself from ever baking it again.

I ate 3 hefty pieces at a time.

I took care of the loaf in much the same way as hot-dog eating champions down trays of encased animal byproduct: fast and dirty.

I left crumbs in my wake and I wasted no time. It was equal parts horrifying and awe-inspiring.

Moral of the story? You should probably make this banana bread.

My self-imposed ban surely won’t last; it’s just. that. good.

Coconut Banana Bread

Adapted from Gingerbread Bagels

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup melted organic virgin coconut oil
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup yogurt (I used iogo’s coconut-pineapple-banana variety)
1 tsp almond extract
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp sweetened flaked coconut

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 5″ loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the coconut oil, sugar, eggs, yogurt, almond extract, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup coconut.
4. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
5. Sprinkle 2 Tbsp shredded coconut into the bottom of the greased loaf pan. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan.
6. Bake for 70-80 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.