Moist Banana Bread With Coconut Oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9 x 5 –inch loaf pan, or spray with cooking spray  

2. Place the bananas in a large mixing bowl and mash them with a fork.  Add the coconut oil and sugar to the bananas, and beat with a fork or an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the banana mixture, on low speed with the mixer (or using a rubber spatula or fork) just until well-incorporated, but do not overmix, which will yield a tough banana bread.  Stir in the chocolate chips, if using. Scrape the coconut banana bread batter into the prepared loaf pan.

1. Bake for about 55 minutes until a wooden skewer or a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out of the pan and finish cooling upright on the wire rack.  

What the Kids Can Do: Mash the bananas, measure the ingredients, mix up the batter, and don’t forget – preheat the oven! It’s never too early for them to know how to do that!  You might let them decide on whether or not to ​add chocolate chips — though, in my experience, the answer to that will always be yes.

You can also make these as muffins, and they will make about 14 to 18 regular muffins. Reduce the cooking time to about 25 minutes. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.