This homemade quick bread is a fantastic twist on the classic banana bread but with the addition of coconut and if desired, chocolate chips. No need to heat up the oven either because the loaf of bread is baked right in your slow cooker!
Turn a 6 quart or larger slow cooker on high and let it pre-heat.
Make sure you have a rectangular loaf pan that will fit inside your slow cooker.
In a large bowl cream together the sugar and the butter with a hand mixer.
Add one egg at a time and continue to mix.
Add in the bananas, milk and vanilla extract..
With a wooden spoon stir in the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and mix just until it is combined making sure not to over mix the batter. It should be a little lumpy.
Add the shredded coconut and chocolate chips (if using) and gently mix them in by hand.
Spray your loaf pan with a non-stick cooking spray designed for baking.
Pour the batter into the loaf pan.
Place a small oval baking rack inside the bottom of the slow cooker (OR use strips of crumpled up foil) to elevate the loaf pan off of the bottom of the slow cooker.
Place loaf pan on top of rack/foil strips.
Place two connected paper towel sheets or a clean thin kitchen towel over the top of the slow cooker and then cover with lid. (This is to prevent condensation that collects on the lid from dripping onto your bread as it bakes).
Using a fork or other kitchen prop the lid up just a little bit so that a little air can escape.
Cook the bread on HIGH for 2 to 4 hours.
Check the bread at the 2 hour mark and test with a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the middle of bread. If not done cook longer.
Remove the loaf pan from slow cooker and let cool on a cooling rack for 10 to 15 minutes before removing the bread from the pan. Allow the bread to cool fully before eating.
Notes
The cook time really will vary on this, depending on the age of your crock (older crocks will take longer), also if you split this recipe and do two smaller loafs this won't take as long also, where as, one large loaf will be more around 3+ hours. This is something, especially the first time, you need to sit and eyeball it and figure out how long your crock takes to cook it.