Because of the cream cheese mixture, this took about 60 minutes to cook. The edges started to brown around 50 minutes, so I covered the bread with tin foil for the remaining 10 minutes.
Adapted from Elise’s recipe for Classic Banana Bread.
- 10 minutes
- 1 hour
- 1 loaf
Ingredients
For the banana bread:
- 2 to 3 very ripe bananas, peeled (about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups mashed)
- 1/3 cup melted butter, unsalted or salted
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup if you would like it less sweet, 1 cup if you want it sweeter)
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
For the cream cheese filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C), and grease a 4×8-inch loaf pan.
2 Make the banana bread batter: In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas.
Mix in the baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour.
3 Make the cream cheese swirl: In another bowl, beat together all the ingredients for the cream cheese filling.
4 Swirl the batters in the pan: Pour half of the banana bread batter in the loaf pan. Top the batter with half of the cream cheese filling — one dollop at a time. Top with remaining batter. Top with the remaining cream cheese filling one dollop at a time. Insert a butter knife about halfway into the batter and run through the batter vertically and horizontally to swirl the cream cheese into the banana bread batter.
5 Bake for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. If the top starts to brown too much before the middle is done, tent the top with foil.
6 Cool and store: Cool the banana bread for a few minutes in the pan, then remove from pan and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store covered at room temperature.
