Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze

For my first endeavor I decided to try a simple banana bread out of Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2008. The bread is pictured in the first few pages and it looks so yummy... who wouldn't want to make it? -->

Although this recipe looked reasonably easy, I just moved into a new apartment so everything is an experiment. The major problem I encountered was baking time. The directions say to bake the bread at 350* for an hour or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Unfortunately when it came time to insert the pick, I realized I don't have any toothpicks...

After an hour of baking, the bread had risen nicely and was beginning to brown on the top, so I took it out of the oven. When I stuck a fork in the top it was still pretty gooey, so I put it back in the oven for about 5 minutes. The buzzer went off and I checked it again only to find that the top was even darker and the middle was STILL gooey. After 5 more minutes (1 hour 10 minutes total baking time) I gave up and let it cool.

The banana bread came out OK, but didn't really look like the bread pictured in the book. The crust was very crunchy and the middle still kinda moist and even gooey. The flavor was yummy and sweet with a little tang from the lime juice. One piece was more than enough for me, so I donated it to my brother's college friends who enjoyed it thoroughly.

I don't think I will be making this banana bread again, but I definitely need to experiment with my oven more and buy some toothpicks!