Coconut Lime Banana Bread--Kellie Graham

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cups All-purpose Flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup (1/2 of a stick) softened butter

2 eggs

1 to 1 1/2 cups smashed bananas (about 3 bananas)

1/3 cup applesauce

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup coconut flakes

1 Tbl coconut to sprinkle on top of bread

Glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Appx 1 1/2 Tbl fresh lime or lemon juice (appx 1 lime; you may substitute store-bought lime or lemon juice if needed)

First, mix the first 3 dry ingredients in the small bowl (the flour, baking soda, and salt) and set them aside.  Mash up the bananas with a fork, like you're making baby food and set them aside.  Crack two eggs and toss them in your mixer. If you don't have a KitchenAid type of mixer, a hand-mixer or wisk will work too.  Next, add a 1/2 stick of real unsalted butter. I used to substitute margarine for butter because I didn't think it made a difference but it does! Margarine has more water content and just doesn't taste as good. So spend an extra buck for the real stuff.

If your butter isn't "softened", stick it in the microwave for 5 seconds, then turn it over and do another 5 seconds. But only microwave for very small increments. You don't want the butter to melt!  ADD the SUGAR and beat everything on medium speed for about 1 minute.  Then add the rest of the ingredients.....the bananas. I prefer vanilla but I've used strawberry before and it's just fine), the applesauce, the vanilla, the coconut, Get it all in there and mix it up until blended.  Then add the dry ingredients, and mix it on low speed just until moist.  Grab your bread pan. I don't like baking with non-stick pans because the breads and cookies tend to over-bake (even when the temperature is turned down a notch). I prefer standard aluminum and glass pans:  Cut a small rectangle of wax paper (or parchment paper) to fit in the bottom of your pan. This makes it easy to get the bread out of the pan once it's baked. Then you just peel it off the bottom of the bread.  Spray the pan with cooking spray (or rub it with butter) and place the wax paper on the bottom:  And pour the batter right into pan:

Finally, SPRINKLE THE TOP of the bread with 1 Tbl of COCONUT (sorry no picture), and put it in a 350 degree oven for appx 1 hour.When your bread is done, allow it to rest for 5 minutes on a rack (but don't let it to cool completely).  Remove it from the pan, peel the wax paper off the bottom, and drizzle the glaze right over the warm bread. Get the glaze in all the groves and let it drip down the side (place a pan or plate under the rack to catch all the drips).