As I have mentioned in a previous post, bananas are always around my house. They are a great snack for toddlers, as well as adults, and they are easy to come by right now. What I haven’t revealed before is that I have a pretty big weakness for banana bread. Nothing quite beats a piece that’s still just a little warm from the oven and smelling strongly of bananas… yum!
I think I have at least 10 different banana bread recipes in my recipe scrapbook. I have versions made with a cake mix, others filled with a cheesecake filling, ones combined with pumpkin or zucchini, and, of course, more traditional types with nuts. The recipe I am going to share today is one I adapted from a cookbook I use literally all the time, “Taste of Home’s Complete Guide to Baking.”
I was looking through my cookbook last week with my daughter, D, and we stumbled upon this recipe for banana coffee cake. While that sounded delectable on its own, I was really craving banana bread. I decided to make the recipe into a nice loaf of banana bread instead.
While I worked through adapting the recipe, D delightedly sampled the pecans for me. Then, as the official taste tester, she also happily tested out the finished product. The final verdict was “good!” with an emphatic nodding of the head. (For my toddler, that is very high praise!) And I have to agree – this is honestly one of my new favorites. I am also fairly certain this particular banana bread recipe now holds the new record for the fastest to disappear in my household. Enjoy!
Cinnamon Pecan Banana Bread
Ingredients
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup butter, room temperature
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1⅛ cups flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ cup pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° and spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set the pan aside.
- In a medium bowl, cream the ¾ cup sugar, butter, and cream cheese until well blended.
- Add the mashed bananas and vanilla, mixing well again.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix until just blended.
- Pour half of the mixture into the prepared loaf pan.
- Combine the cinnamon and tablespoon of sugar in a small bowl.
- Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar on top of the banana bread mixture in the prepared loaf pan.
- Sprikle half of the chopped nuts on top of the cinnamon sugar and banana bread mixutre in the prepared loaf pan.
- Pour the remaining banana bread mixture into the loaf pan and top with the remaining cinnamon sugar and chopped pecans.
- Bake the banana bread for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. The bread will have a deep golden brown color.
- Allow the bread to cool before slicing.
