Cream Cheese Pecan Banana Bread with Streusel

Unfortunately, I did not take any pix of my finished product so this photo was borrowed from the blog:  'Sugar & Spice' where I got my streusel topping recipe.  

This banana bread was made with a mission in mind.  A mission to butter up my boss and my co-worker for some favor.  Seriously.  The best way to a person's heart is food, don't ya think?  Food made with lotsa love and lotsa sugar.  :P

Anyhoo, I pinned a few banana bread recipes but could not land on one recipe so I did what I could and combined two.  I used cream cheese banana bread recipe from here and used the streusel topping recipe from this blog.  I've baked a few banana breads in my life but have never used cream cheese to bake one so I wanted to try this recipe and wanted to know how it would do.  Also, one of my absolute favorite pound cake is the cream cheese pound cake.  The recipe yields two banana breads.  You can probably bundt cake it, too.  ;)  The streusel recipe is only for one banana bread so double it if you're making two pans.

The Bread:

• I reduced the sugar from 2 cups to 1.5 cups and it was still very sweet so I would definitely stick with the lower sugar content.
• I baked the bread for an hour but I think I'll take it out after 50 min next time.  
• Toasting the pecans before baking it is crucial in my opinion.  It makes a huge difference in the flavor of the pecans. 
• Would I bake this again?  Yes!  
• Did it work in buttering up the boss and the co-worker.  I think the cake did its job.  :P

Streusel Topping:

• This was the bomb streusel topping.  It made the cake that much more special and everyone who tried the bread asked me about it.  Use it! is my advice.  
• Do not toast the pecans for the topping since it is on top of the bread, it will toast itself in the oven.  

Coconut Bread

Too many recipes not enough time.
I think I will never escape that feeling as I weekly scrap recipe after recipe after recipe.
Well, here's one form a blog that I found out of sheer luck of blog hopping: The Wednesday Chef. People, if you enjoy a good 'read' you're missing out if you have not visited this blog. The Wednesday Chef is one witty writer, folks. I could click on any of the archives and I know I'm guaranteed to find something that would make me smile.

A disclaimer: This bread is for coconut lovers.
I will admit, this is my very first attempt at 'bread.' Therefore, my mistakes and ignorance must be taken into account. As a coconut lover, I am enjoying this bread immensely. However, this bread is drier and quite crumblier than I thought. I have no idea if it is supposed to be that way or if I had done something wrong. Nevertheless, I wake up every morning looking forward to a breakfast of coconut bread. I lightly toast it on my frying pan and coat it with jam, butter, or enjoy it as is. It goes famously with both milk and coffee.




Coconut Bread
From the Wednesday Chef (who adapted it from Bill Granger)

• 2 large eggs (room temp)
• 1 1/4 C milk (room temp)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 C flour, more for dusting (I used all purpose)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 C superfine sugar (I used regular sugar - is there a difference?)
• 5 ounces flaked coconut (about 1 1/2 C)
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (about 84grams)
• Nonstick cooking spray or butter for pan
• Confectioners' sugar (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla (I used an electric mixer for this step and then for the rest of the steps I stirred with a wooden spoon)
3. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon. add sugar and coonut and stir to mix. Make a well in the center and pour in egg mixture.
4. Gradually mix with dry ingredients until just combined. Add melted butter and stir until smooth. Do not overmix.
5. Oil and flour an 8 1/2 x 4 in loaf pan. Pour batter into pan.
6. Bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
7. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then move to cooling rack.
8. Dust with confectioners' sugar or just enjoy as is.