Double-Chocolate Banana Bread with Cream Cheese Filling

If you’ve been reading along with me, you know I’ve been missing out on baking, not just for the lack of my KitchenAid, but also my lack of basic kitchen supplies.  Like wooden spoons and measuring cups.  And mixing bowls.  I still don’t have mixing bowls, and I’m going to have to learn to live without a mixer, but I did break down and buy measuring cups.  Not only did I want to bake, but I missed having any sense of portion control and knowing how much I’m actually eating. I found the best measuring cups today, and absolutely had to have them. They’re Joseph and Joseph, and colorful, and stackable, and BPA free, and I didn’t have to pay Amazon Spain shipping to have them delivered even though I have Amazon Prime in the US, which makes them even better!  And they even include measuring spoons as well, so I’m all set!

After I got the measuring cups, it wasn’t hard to convince myself to get the loaf pan I’ve been eying for the past two weeks.  It’s silicone, so I’m hoping I might actually be able to bring it back home to the States with me eventually.  And having the loaf pan + measuring cups combo means I get to try out all the autumnal loaf breads I’ve been seeing all over the Internet.  Except for pumpkin, because there is no canned pumpkin in Spain.  And I haven’t gotten up the nerve to try making pureed pumpkin from scratch.

But I did find a recipe for double-chocolate banana bread, which is almost as good as pumpkins, if not as autumnal.  You can find the original recipe here, and the recipe I used to help me with the cream cheese filling here.   The original banana bread used all-purpose flour, but I adapted it to include whole wheat flour and rolled oats to make it a little healthier, and then added the cream-cheese filling for fun, which probably negates any whole wheat I added, but is delicious just the same!

The finished bread didn’t photograph as well as I would have liked since it was late and my kitchen isn’t as bright as I would like, but I promise it’s delicious!  It’s easy to make, and perfect with a cold glass of milk!

Ingredients for the bread:

• 3 bananas
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup chocolate chips or melted baking chocolate

Ingredients for the filling:

• 4 ounces cream-cheese
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
• Grease your loaf pan
• Smush your bananas in a mixing bowl
• Add melted butter, brown sugar, and egg and stir.
• Mix in flours and oats, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder.
• Finally add chocolate and stir well.  Mix until well-combined and thoroughly moist.
• In a separate bowl, prepare your cream-cheese filling by mixing all ingredients with a fork until you have a smooth consistency.
• Fill loaf pan with half of the batter.
• Spread cream-cheese filling evenly across the pan.
• Add remaining batter over filling, spreading it as evenly as you can.  Try not to disturb the cream-cheese filling.
• Bake for about an hour, until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from loaf pan and transferring to a wire rack.