Yeah... you read that correctly. Are you salivating yet? I know I am. I've got a batch of it in the oven right now, and I can't wait to devour it, probably still hot from the pan. If it's anything like last time, I will be too impatient, and will try to get it out of the pan while its still too hot. This will cause it to fall apart, which will of course require me to immediately devour it. I mean, its broken, so it must be eaten right away, right??
I got the original recipe here: Southern Living's Cream Cheese Banana Bread . Since I can't stand walnuts or pecans in bread, I omitted those. It's a delicious bread all on its own. After I got comfortable with the recipe I began to play with it just a smidge; mostly by experimenting with add-ins. Chocolate chips was the obvious place to start, and the kids loved it when I added a bunch of mini chocolate chips to it. Then one day I was in the grocery store and stumbled upon These Bad Boys . It just so happened I had been planning on making banana bread when we got home, and I was in that particular aisle to get just plain ol' chocolate chips. When my daughter and I saw these, we knew our banana bread experience was about to reach a whole new level. I mean, everyone knows that chocolate, peanut butter, and banana is just a exquisite menage a trois. We were so right.
This bread seriously doesn't last a day in this house. And it makes two loaves. And there's only three of us...
Ingredients:
3 cups flour (I use 2 cups white flour and 1 cup wheat flour)
1/2 teaspoonful baking soda
1/2 teaspoonful baking powder
1/2 teaspoonful salt
3/4 cup butter (or 1&1/2 sticks), softened
8oz cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1&1/2 cups mashed banana (I just throw in whatever is getting too ripe)
1/2 teaspoonful vanilla
Bag of chocolate and peanut butter chips, or whatever add-in floats your fancy.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare two loaf pans by spraying them with cooking spray, or oiling and flouring them.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the butter and cream cheese. Mix until creamy. Add in the sugar and mix until well combined and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly. Gradually add in flour mixture and mix until combined. The dough will get a bit thick here. Add in bananas and vanilla. Dump in entire bag of chocolate peanut butter chips and mix until well combined.
Divide the batter between the two prepared loaf pans and bake for one hour. I have to let mine completely cool before removing them from the pan, otherwise they fall apart. As mentioned before, this just gives me good excuse to start devouring it right away. However, if you are wanting a prettier presentation, you may want to wait. =)
Enjoy!