Yesterday, I had some bananas that were about to go bad. I decided that I’d better do something quick (I don’t like to waste food). My usual action is to peel the bananas and put them in a bag in the freezer to use for smoothies later. But I wanted to do something different. Although, when I decided to make banana bread, I knew that I needed to kick that up a bit, too. So Coconut Ginger Banana Bread with White Chocolate Chips (and Vanilla Icing!) was born.

First, I started with a very simple Banana Bread recipe. I switched out the melted butter for coconut oil and added some ingredients.

Coconut Ginger Banana Bread with White Chocolate Chips

• 3 to 4 ripe bananas
• 3 tablespoons virgin coconut oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• As many white chocolate chips as you want

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mash the bananas in a bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well with a wooden spoon. Bake in a buttered loaf pan with parchment paper until a toothpick stuck into the bread comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. Let cool and then slather top with icing.

Vanilla Icing

This recipe is more of a theory to learn than a recipe. First, throw a stick of butter in a stand mixer with a couple of tablespoons coconut oil and cream it. Then begin adding sifted powdered sugar to taste. You want the powdered sugar to be sifted because you want your icing to be smooth. Finally, add vanilla extract to taste (start with 1/2 teaspoon). Everyone likes their frosting a different way. This is sort of a cheater frosting, but it gets the job done. You may want to refrigerate it a bit before spreading.