We are enjoying the first glorious days of spring here in Southern California. Plants are budding and the sweet little birds are singing their sweet little songs. I have a Black Phoebe in my backyard who is entertaining me and Juliet with swoops and other feats of derring do. She is looking for nesting material. I hope. I hope.
This, then, is a great day to sit outside with a good book, a pitcher of something and a banana bread all to yourself.
Banana bread?
Bananas, after all, are the most popular fruit in the world. There are at least 1000 varieties of bananas and they are grown in 150 countries. Today, the most popular banana (and the most consumed) is the Cavendish. Daniel Stone, writing on National Geographic.com, wrote of the fruit: “It crosses historical eras, has been responsible for entire governments rising and falling, and has propped up beleaguered economies. If fruits were countries, the banana would be the world’s superpower. If fruits were pop stars, the banana would be Beyoncé.” Funny.
Bananas are also the most popular fruit (actually a berry) in the U.S. where U.S. per capita consumption was 28.54 pounds in 2017. Whoa!
Here, bananas even have their own national day. Actually there are several banana days. National Banana Day is on April 17. National Banana Bread Day is on January 21. National Banana Split Day is on August 25. You get the picture.
Bananas have intrigued people for centuries. They are represented in Egyptian hieroglyphs. Alexander the Great wrote about them when his armies invaded India in 327 B.C. In Thailand, there is a wonderful ghost story that a beautiful green-clad spirit named Nam Tani haunts wild banana groves and makes herself visible on full moon nights. She is particularly edgy about men who harm women (You go, Nam Tani!) and some Thais tie a silk cloth around the trunks of banana trees where she is thought to lurk–warning men to be careful in her territory.
This banana bread recipe produces a moist and rich bread stuffed with cream cheese. What could be better than that? It is a superstar!
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 C. light brown sugar (packed)
- 1/4 C. granulated sugar
- 1/4 C. liquid-state coconut oil
- 1/4 C. Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
- 2 t. vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste)
- 1 C. mashed ripe bananas (about 2 bananas)
- 1 C. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. baking soda
- pinch of salt
- Powdered sugar to garnish
- 1 large egg
- 4 oz. softened brick-style cream cheese
- 1/4 C. granulated sugar
- 3 T. all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prepare a 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan by oiling it and dusting it with flour. Alternatively, spray with a flour and oil baking spray.
- Mix the egg, brown sugar, granulated sugar, coconut oil, Greek yogurt (or sour cream) and vanilla extract (or paste) together.
- Mash bananas and stir into the sugar and oil mixture.
- Whisk all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the banana/sugar mixture. Stir to combine ingredients but do not overmix.
- Prepare cream cheese filling. Combine egg, cream cheese, sugar and flour in a bowl. Mix with a hand mixer until the mixture is smooth.
- Pour about 1/2 of the banana batter into your prepared loaf pan. Smooth the top of the batter. Spoon all of the cream cheese filling over the banana batter. Smooth the cream cheese mixture and, using a spatula, spread the mixture evenly across the top of the batter and to the edges of the pan. Top with the remaining batter. Using a spatula, smooth the top to spread the batter to the edges of the pan.
- Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees F. or until the top of your banana bread is rounded and golden brown. (At 30 minutes, remove the bread from the oven and cover it with a layer of foil to keep the top of the bread from burning.) Return the covered bread to the oven. At the end of baking, you will want to check that the cake batter is set with a skewer inserted into the center of the cake. The skewer should come out clean. Remember that you have a cream cheese layer in the middle of your banana bread and that part of the bread will not give you a totally clean skewer. Remember, too, that this bread, with the cream cheese and the mashed bananas, is a very moist bread.
- Cool the bread on your counter. When it is cooled, cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit overnight before cutting.
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This recipe is adapted from one that appears on the Averie Cooks blog. Here is a link to her site: Averie Cooks.
