Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Bread

Banana bread is a hot commodity in our house.  We all love it, we all fight over that first slice (the chef gets the first slice)...and one of the submissions to this week`s Scrumptious Sunday left me inspired to try something new with our banana bread.  Thanks Like Mother, Like Daughter for inspiring me to try something new!  I probably would have tried their banana blueberry bread if blueberries were in season (I will try the recipe later this year!), but instead I went to my trusty piles of recipes to see what I could find.  I found one that is full of all sorts of goodness - bananas (of course!), coconut, chocolate, and then I added in some extra goodness, peanut butter chips and walnuts.  Here is my recipe:

Topping:
1/2 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour

Combine all the topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Bread:
1/3 cup oil (vegetable, coconut, etc)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 ripe, mashed bananas
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup walnuts
3/4 cup mixed white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and chocolate chips (use whatever ratio you wish -  I used mostly white chocolate and peanut butter chips)

Preheat oven to 325F.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together oil, sugar, vanilla and eggs.  Add in bananas and stir until well mixed.  Add flour mixture.  Add 1/2 cup of the white chocolate/peanut butter/chocolate chips.  Pour intogreased bread pan (8" x 4"). Top with remaining 1/4 cup of chips and cover with coconut topping.

Bake in centre of oven for about 70 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pan, on a rack.  Enjoy!

VERDICT:
Everyone enjoyed this bread, it was a nice change to our usual, everyday banana bread.  Though my husband said there could be less chocolate (my chip ratio was about 1/2 peanut butter chips, 1/4 white/chocolate chips)...but then again, he claims to not like chocolate ;-)  My oldest son said that he didn't like the walnuts.  But they both keep eating the bread, so I'm taking that sign as one that they do like it!  I found the coconut topping too messy for my preference, and will probably reduce the coconut to 1/4 cup for the topping and would consider mixing some coconut into the bread to see how that tastes!  Next time!

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