Recipe FAIL! Plus Health Benefits of Coconut Flour

OK...so I get so frustrated when recipes do not go the way I want them to! You put all that time and energy into baking something (plus ingredients!) only to see the dish be a complete failure! Well, that is what happened last night. My son and I were watching Daniel Tiger and it was an episode where Daniel and his father make banana bread for Daniel's mother. So my sweet little one looked at me and said he wanted to make banana bread. How could I turn down his eagerness to bake! So I quickly looked online and searched for about 5 minutes to find a healthy banana bread recipe, with ingredients that we had on hand. Now, I did swap out the flour for coconut flour because coconut flour has a TON of health benefits (below) and added a bit more milk and less honey. The taste is really great! Don't get me wrong there! I was just so disappointed when I went to flip the bread out of the pan for 1/2 of it to stick and the rest fall completely apart! So we are munching on small bites of banana bread instead of slices. It is a VERY moist recipe (cooked it for an hour and still very moist...even when tested with a tooth pick. Oh, and this will need to stay in the refrigerator because of how moist it is...won't last on the counter). Anyway, like I said the taste is really great, but the look is awful! ;) I will try this recipe again, but maybe try it in individual muffin tins. Maybe the smaller amount will cook better and a muffin liner will be a must to get it out!

If you want to try this recipe for yourself and play around with it, be my guest! I'd love to hear how it turns out for you!
Recipe from Cookie and Kate. My adaptation is listed below.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 3 mashed, ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup whole cows milk, plus a splash
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra for sprinkling on top
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• Optional: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325º and grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan (I used organic butter for this. Maybe a bit of flour would have helped it as well).
2. In a large bowl, beat the oil and honey together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then whisk in the mashed bananas and milk. 
3. Add the baking soda, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon, and whisk to blend. Lastly, switch to a big spoon or spatula and stir in the flour, until just combined. If you add any nuts, gently fold them in. Add the splash of milk if the batter seems too thick.
4. Pour the batter into your grease loaf pan and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. 
5. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the loaf for about 10 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to cook for about 20 minutes before slicing. 

Health benefits of coconut flour:

• Gluten- and wheat-free
• High in fiber with 5 grams per TB! Coconut flour has more of this indigestible carbohydrate than whole-grain flour, which has 0.8 grams per TB, or white flour, which has just 0.2 grams per TB.
• Moderate effect on blood sugar due to the high fiber content, thus coconut flour does not spike your blood sugar as quickly as grain-based flours.
• Higher protein and healthy fats - a 100-gram serving of coconut flour has 19 grams of protein while wheat flour has just 10. 

Resource: Live Strong

For more information about coconut flour, including how to use it, visit Dr. Axe's website.