Healthy Banana Bread

Again, the baking.... I know, I know. I should just turn this blog into a cooking blog! I can't help it...I love to bake. I LOVE sweets! So, I've made 2 new rules at my house: 1. If I bake something terribly unhealthy, give it to someone else and 2. Make baked goods as healthy as possible.

I LOVE muffins, breads, etc for breakfast, but it's hard to find anything too good for you out there... So, here's yet another attempt to make something at least a little healthy!

And, I'm not gonna lie, it turned out fantastic. Not just I-know-it's-healthy-but-it-still-tastes-relatively-ok good, but I crave it, fantastic! Alright, enough of that, here's the recipe!

Healthy Banana Bread
Adapted from: More from Magnolia Cookbook by Allysa Torey

3 cups white, whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce (sub for the oil)
3/4 cup sugar (took out 1/2 the sugar)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
3/4 cup plain yogurt (sub for sour cream)
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour 2 loaf pans.

2. In a medium-size bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the oil, applesauce and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat well. Add the bananas and yogurt, and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the pecans and coconut. Pour the batter into a prepared pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the bread comes out with moist crumbs attached.

The coconut sounds weird in this, but it makes it wonderful. It actually makes it taste more banana-like, it's great!