While I was in St. Lucia, the lovely Cindy of Once Upon A Loaf guest posted here on MBA with a fun, tipsy recipe for Bourbon Banana Bread. From the moment I read the post, I knew a boozy banana bread would soon be in my baking future.
As soon as we were through customs in St. Lucia, we were greeted by an ice cold glass of Rum Punch. And within a few minutes, we learned that rum was definitely the drink of choice on the island. Even though I’m not one to indulge in cocktails on a regular basis, I happily accepted the fruity concoction and sipped away – ya know how it goes… when in Rome!
Upon arriving at Sandals La Toc, I quickly familiarized myself with the island drink specialties and acquired quite an affinity for two tropical beverages – Dirty Banana and No Pressure – the island’s mantra.
Bananas are actually the main export crop in St. Lucia, so they were as plentiful as they were delicious. You can actually see the banana farms along the main highway. The banana trees definitely catch your attention due to their close proximity to the road and the bright blue bags that cover the fruits to protect them. Our lovely driver actually stopped several times on the journey to the resort to educate us on the farming process.
Although we couldn’t bring bananas back to the states with us, we could bring rum, and that we did. With assistance from a couple of locals, we selected a few of the island’s best brands and carefully nestled them into our suitcases. We even brought back a bottle of dried spices that is used to create your own homemade spiced rum. Much like the process of making your own vanilla, you simply add your favorite rum to the spice medley until the spices infuse the liquor. The lovely woman that walked us through the process referred to the drink as the “baby maker” as she jokingly gestured towards her infant son. Needless to say, that bottle has yet to be touched.
As soon as we were back in the states, I picked up a bunch of bananas and anxiously waited from them to turn the perfect shade of brown. I then whipped up my favorite banana bread recipe and, drawing inspiration from Cindy, I infused the batter with St. Lucia rum, cinnamon and coconut; creating an island-inspired delectable quick bread that truly highlights some of the amazing flavors of St. Lucia.
Rum-Coconut Bread
Yield: 1 loaf
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 60-65 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, slightly packed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons dark rum
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 4-5 bananas)
1 cup sweetened shredded coconutDirections:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In a large bowl, with an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy; about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs, vanilla, rum, and bananas mixing until fully incorporated.
3. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, add the flour mixture into the banana mixture, stirring until just incorporated. Fold in coconut flakes. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack.
Notes:
- For a plain loaf of banana bread, simply omit the rum and coconut.
- This bread does wonderfully with all types of add-ins such as walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips, etc.
- The flavor of the banana bread will intensify if allowed to sit overnight.
- To store, wrap the cooled bread in a layer of plastic wrap, followed by a layer of foil. Bread will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.
My Baking Addiction adapted from All Recipes
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{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh my goodness, this would make me think I was on vacation if I made this! I will definitely be making this for one of my next banana breads – yummy!
What a great way to celebrate the memories of your vacation. Maybe you should call it your St. Lucia Banana Bread!
Mmm the perfect quick bread! I love it!
Looks and sounds like perfection in a bread!
Wonderful flavors..the bread look yum!
I am sooooooo jealous of your tropical vacation. I have never been anywhere like that!!!
Love the flavors in this bread. Sometimes a vacation is just what you need to get inspiration flowing.
What an absolutely brilliant twist to a banana bread!! couldnt expect anything else ..after such a beautiful tropical holiday!!
Oh yum! I want to make this, eat this, then go on vacation.
Oh my! These pictures look so lovely and I can’t wait to try the bread – banana bread is in my top ten, so I think I’m going to love this. You do such an amazing job Jamie – wow!
love the rum and coconut in this! Such a pretty photo
I love banana bread, and all of the variations out there. This is definitely one I’m going to try; my mom loves rum and coconut, I think she’d really enjoy this bread!
Any recipes to change up my favourite regular banana bread are always appreciated. This one looks like a winner!
Great photos! Sounds sooooo good. Will definately be trying this. Thanks for posting.
Inspired ingredients, Jamie. I really wish I had some of this for breakfast – it would probably improve my mood dramatically. I’m having an angry day over this being like the 9th day in a row we’ve had dark clouds and gross rain.
That sounds like a perfect combination!
rum and coconut are two of my fave things! I just made pina colada cookies this week if that tells you anything
This bread looks perfect!!
I love all forms of banana bread…this is such a creative way of making it. What kind of dark rum did you use?
We’re also great fans of banana bread. This one looks just…yummy!! Coconut and dark rum…Mmmmm.
Wowza, this looks delicious! I wonder if this would be good using Malibu coconut rum, or if that would be coconut overkill?
Sounds good – as does the No Pressure cocktail which I just had to Google LOL http://www.drinkswap.com/no-pressure.htm
Baby maker. Ahahahaha! Clara was *ahem* conceived while we were in Mexico. Perhaps there was a little rum (or tequila) involved. Sorry if that was TMI, but you started it!
We’re crazy over banana bread. I can’t wait to try your boozy version!
Rum and coconut, that’s exactly what i feel like indulging in right now! in a hammock on the beach! But i know this banana bread will be the next best thing.
We love Sandals La Toc! We went there for our honeymoon with was the Sandals Regency St. Lucia. We loved the Dirty Bananas (they called them BBC (Bailey’s Banana Colada) back them)!
I have so many banana breads (because I love them!) and have never made a boozey bread. I can’t wait to give this one a try. It looks really moist and delsih!
Wow, I can’t help drooling. I just love the rum coconut banana bread
Well done!
If you submitted your rum coconut banana bread photos to http://www.foodporn.net , I’ll bet they will make you on the home page.
Gosh, you have made me sooo hungry !
This sounds amazing. Hope you had a wonderful trip!!
Rum AND coconut? This bread is perfection.
Wait wait wait… why haven’t I thought to put coconut and rum into my banana bread?!?! What’s wrong with me? This sounds freaking incredible. Time to ripen up some bananas!
I could use some Rum about now. Oh Wait!! I don’t drink.
Bread looks mighty good. Just will have to make this.
Love this reciepe, love your blog
Thanks so much, Sheni!
-Jamie
I love coconut and rum put together but never tried them in a banana bread. Sounds amazing Jamie!
Yum, yum, yum! This is my kind of tea cake…boozy! Hahaha!!! Seriously, this looks lovely. Pinning now…
OOH! The Dirty Banana! My favorite drink on our St. Lucia trip.
I can’t wait to try this bread! I’m sure it’ll make me want to take another Caribbean trip… 
A warm slice of this divine bread smeared with some butter would be just perfect for breakfast.
I was in St. Lucia May 3rd! We brought back a lot of rum too! Did you go to the rum distillery? I really wanted to make this recipe tonight but much to my dismay someone ate some of the perfectly ripe bananas I was going to use. I will have to wait til next time to try this but its at the top of my list!
I made this wonderful bread and it is to die for! I would use 1 cup of brown sugar instead of the 3/4 cup that is called for. Fabulous!
I made this twice, because it was good the first time, but I over baked a little. So, I thought I’d be smart and bake it less the second time, but guess what? I kind-of did it again. My oven runs hot and it seems the top browns super quick, and the middle takes longer to cook. I have the rack in the middle, so I don’t know if I should lower it? Anyway it’s delicious bread, even when you overbake. Thanks.
The marvels of the ethernet—-inspired memories of my trip to the Grenadines a few years ago and the rum/hibiscus ambience, AND, the perfect answer to what to do with some of my fave ingredients! It’s 11 p.m. so may put off till tomorrow…just hope I can sleep:)
Wow. Again, another beautiful recipe. I have to say that your website is truly the only one I have come across that has consistent recipes. What I mean by that is that they are incredibly detailed and perfect recipes that don’t turn out on behalf of a gamble. They are perfect, in other words.
This time around, I did a cup of brown sugar, a little more coconut than banana, and an extra tablespoon of rum.
Turned out beautifully. Thank you so much for this website! 
Lisa-
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the banana bread recipe. Thanks so much for your kind words and for coming back and telling us your thoughts! Have a great day.
-Jamie
I can’t stop making this, Jamie. It’s SO delicious, thank you!
Sylvia-
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the recipe – thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your feedback. Have a great day.
-Jamie
Love the rum twist in the delish looking bread…
Mmm, delicious! I have a Nigella recipe for banana bread with rum that I want to try, the coconut sounds like a great addition!
Amazing. I added a few dashes of Angostura bitters for a truly Caribbean feel, and it brought out the flavour of the rum just that much better.
I think I’m going to have to make this over the weekend. I have coconut rum on hand which should work nicely. Thanks for the great recipe!