I love this twist on Banana Bread! Cream cheese makes EVERYTHING better, making this Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is no exception.
Why This Recipe Works
This bread does not fit with my “good habits” diet, but if it were in my kitchen right now I wouldn’t be able to resist. Imagine banana bread transformed into an irresistible dessert.
How is 2016 starting out for you? Enjoying baking or sticking to some better habits? My first week of the year has miraculously transformed into one overflowing with productivity and good habits. The gym saw my face, I have accomplished a ton of work and my cold is waning.
Plus, my oldest cutie begins adaptive snowboarding lessons tomorrow and I am super excited for him! I am a skier at heart, but I’m proud that his adventurous little self is excited to get on the slopes in some way. He’ll definitely come home hungry, ready to eat a slice or two of this sweet bread.
If you have little ones, they will not be able to keep their chubby little fingers off this stuff.
Recipe Ingredients
Bananas – Ripe bananas that are easy to mash.
Semi-sweet chocolate chips – Perfect to pair with cream cheese, not overly sweet.
Cream cheese – Allow it to soften before adding to the recipe.
Pantry staples – Brown sugar, sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.
How To Make Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and coat a 9×5 pan with cooking spray; set aside.
Step 2
Combine the butter, brown sugar, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix well.
Step 3
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix well. Gradually add to the butter-sugar bowl until combined. Add mashed bananas and chocolate chips. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Spread softened cream cheese evenly over bottom half of the batter and top with remaining batter.
Step 4
Sprinkle additional chocolate chips over the top, if desired. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 1 hour. Start checking for doneness at the 50-minute mark. When a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, the bread is done.
Have a great weekend, friends! Thanks so much for peeking in!
FAQ About Banana Bread
Yes, definitely one of the benefits of enjoying a slice of banana bread is that it’s moist, easy to bite into and enjoy the way that bananas infiltrate bread to make it soft and slightly sweet.
Banana bread will be moist if you have a good ratio of flour to bananas and the more overripe the bananas are, the better for the purpose of baking bread.
You want to use bananas that are no longer yellow, dark spots are appearing or the outside is almost completely darkened for the best banana bread bananas.
If you have bananas that are still green or just turning yellow, you can add them to a brown paper bag and enclose them. If you have a ripe apple or another banana that is ripe, you can add them to the bag so it can produce ethylene gas to help speed up the process.
Banana bread is awesome because you can eat it as your breakfast, enjoy it for a snack and nothing needs to be paired with it. However, slide some butter over the top for another way to enjoy it, eat it on the side of some eggs and sausage or a cup of Raspberry Honey yogurt.
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Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter softened
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 bananas ripe, mashed
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and coat a 9×5 pan with cooking spray; set aside. Combine the butter, brown sugar, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix well.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix well. Gradually add to the butter-sugar bowl until combined. Add mashed bananas and chocolate chips. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Spread softened cream cheese evenly over bottom half of the batter and top with remaining batter.
- Sprinkle additional chocolate chips over the top, if desired. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 1 hour. Start checking for doneness at the 50-minute mark. When a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, the bread is done.
I tried these as mini muffins with gluten free flour and they turned out great! I didn’t use the cream cheese because they were really too small for that step, I switched the time to 30 minutes but they were done in 15! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing that change up! Sounds perfect and a great snack or breakfast.
How can I cut this recipe to accommodate an 8 x 4 Loaf pan?
Hi Carol, you shouldn’t need to cut it at all. In a 9×5, it doesn’t fill quite up and in a more standard bread loaf pan, it’ll fill a little more but round nicely up as it bakes. Enjoy!
Can I used another sized pan, instead of a “loaf” type of pan?
Hi Alexxus,
Yes! You can, of course. A loaf is great because you can cut nice slices but you can use something else. Just watch the baking time if it’s in a smaller pan, like a 9×9 or 9×13. Enjoy!
How is ” stick of butter” a measurement ? So this bread wants 2-2 1/2 cups of butter?
Sorry for the confusion. 1 stick of butter is a half a cup of butter, or 8 tbsp.
Where in the world do you live that a stick of butter equals 2 cups? LOL
i don’t have baking powder can i still do this
I’d suggest adding the baking powder for optimal results, but give it a shot, Linda! You don’t know unless you try, right? Let me know how it turns out!
Megan
Just made this for my collage dorm floor! Girls came running down the hall when they smelled it! Will make again. Thanks for sharing
Ahh, I love that you fed this to a dorm floor! Somehow that just makes me happy. 🙂 So glad you all enjoyed it!
Megan
How many does it usually make
Hi Mackenzie! This makes one loaf of bread (9×5 loaf pan)! I hope this helps.
Megan
Would it work to put them in cupcake tins so they could be separate pastries instead of a loaf? Would I have to change the heat?
This would work great! Keep the heat the same, but you may need to adjust cooking times. Insert a toothpick into the center and it needs to come out clean!
M
This banana bread looks so flavourful! Loving the cream cheese in there!