Cream Cheese Banana Bread {Egg-free}

I usually buy three pounds of bananas a week.  While we love bananas and eat most of them, I still often have a few at the end of the week that are little overripe for my taste.  So, I am always looking for delicious recipes that call for ripened bananas.  I hesitate to post yet another banana recipe but the ones I have posted have by far been the most popular on my blog.  My recipe for banana muffins is hands down the most popular recipe on my blog.  I think part of the reason it is so popular is that it doesn't contain eggs or dairy.  Plus, I must say they are just really good muffins!  One slight flaw with the muffin recipe is that it doesn't easily convert into a recipe for banana bread.  If you try to make bread with that recipe, it will have a gooey crater in the middle.

So, I found a recipe for cream cheese banana bread.  I originally saw the recipe at my sister's house.  She had gotten it from one of her in-laws.  I still didn't know where it originated.  After little research, I found a cream cheese banana bread recipe on the Tasty Kitchen website.  The bread is identical to the recipe my sister gave me but includes a cinnamon topping.  After further research, I found a Southern Living recipe almost identical to the egg-free recipe on tasty kitchen.  The southern living website also had a recipe without the cinnamon topping.  My conclusion, I am giving the credit for this recipe to Southern Living.  I think due to the cream cheese and banana, you can simply omit the egg and it still works!  I made it tonight without the cinnamon topping.  While I like bananas and I like cinnamon, I am not sure how I feel about them together.  Due to all the confusion with three different recipes, I am going to reprint it below.  Plus, I have a feeling I may make some changes to the recipe in the future and this will allow for an easy update.  I made one loaf and twelve muffins.

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread

This recipe was adapted from Southern Living Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread.

¾ c unsalted butter, softened

1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened 

2 c sugar

3 c all-purpose flour

½ t baking powder

½ t baking soda

½ t salt

½ t vanilla extract

1 ½ c mashed bananas (about 4 medium)

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted (optional)

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.  Gradually add dry ingredients to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended.  Mix in bananas and vanilla.  Stir in pecans, if using.  Spoon batter into 2 greased 8- x 4-inch loaf pans. 

Bake at 350° about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cover with foil the last 15 minutes to reduce over browning, if needed.  Cool bread in pans on wire racks.  

Makes 2 loaves

To bake muffins, spoon batter evenly into 24 greased muffin cups.  Bake at 350° for about 20-25 minutes.  Cool in pans 10 minutes.  Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks.   

Makes 24 muffin