Gluten Free Cream Cheese Swirl Banana Bread

A perfectly sweet banana bread with a ribbon of cream cheese filling with this Gluten Free Cream Cheese Swirl Banana Bread. What a treat!

Well, Braelyn shaved her eyebrows off. Yep, just shaved them right off.

It was actually quite hilarious. I was bathing Emry in the girls’ bathroom while Ben was getting the shower ready for Braelyn in our bathroom. Apparently Braelyn is in the “let’s make everything difficult for my parents by doing the opposite of anything that is easy” stage. Which means all of the sudden she “can’t” take baths with Emry anymore because she needs her “privacy”. Dramatic. But okay, I can respect that.

Anyway, I heard some ranting coming from Ben in the other bathroom. I just chuckled to myself, knowing that Braelyn was giving him a run for his money with some kind of mischievous scheme. Hello, it’s Braelyn.

Sure enough, no less than 20 seconds later, Ben comes walking up to me in the bathroom holding up my eyebrow trimmers exclaiming, “You’ll never guess what Braelyn just did!”

Spoiler alert: I guessed right. She shaved her dang eyebrows off.

Well, not completely off. Basically she shaved half of each eyebrow off. Not sure if that is worse or better.

Best thing is; I didn’t even get mad. Once she saw her face in the mirror and realized how ridiculous she looked…well, that was punishment enough.

I seriously can’t stop laughing at the situation. Every time I think about it, I just start cracking up. That girl just never ceases to amaze me with her little shenanigans.

So on days like these where I am reminded of just how special and unique this beautiful little rugrat is, I like to make one of her favorite treats: banana bread.

We are banana bread fanatics around here. I buy bananas in bulk just in hopes to make another batch of banana bread once they’re ripened. Problem is, we also love bananas so most of the time they don’t last that long.

But I did have just enough bananas to make this Gluten Free Cream Cheese Swirl Banana Bread, and I’m pretty sure that those last three lonesome, ripened bananas couldn’t have asked for a more delicious treat to be mashed into.

Being mashed: how would you like that to be your dying moment??? Sounds a little morbid, huh?

Well, when it makes a treat as delectable as this golden loaf of goodness??? Mash away my friend! Mash away.

Braelyn, as she does all treats, INHALED her portion of this banana bread and during that moment, all was right in the world.

The addition of brown sugar gives this loaf a supremely soft and tender texture along with a deeper layer of flavor than just using regular sugar alone. And the ground cinnamon pairs nicely with the warmth of the brown sugar. It’s lip licking good.

Speaking of licking. Braelyn was actually licking the crumbs not off of her plate (that would be somewhat normal), but off of her shirt AND the counter top. Seriously?!

I guess that’s nothing short of a compliment, right? Don’t worry, I disinfected the counter top for like the 20th time today.

Between Emry blowing milk bubbles at breakfast, Emry throwing a slice of cheese all over the counter and retrieving it like a dog, Emry climbing on the counter top just because, and me dropping an entire Costco-sized jar of coconut oil, I’d say my counter top received a lot of love today…at the expense of my sanity.

But this bread makes all that insanity go away and leaves nothing but smiles in its place.

My favorite part of this bread is the beauty of the cream cheese swirl. It’s so subtle ribboned throughout the loaf, but it adds just enough cream cheese flavor to this bread to leave you feeling as though you ate something so much more special than just banana bread. Although “just banana bread” is still pretty dang special indeed!

If you are a huge cream cheese fan, I would suggest doubling the ingredients for the cream cheese swirl and making and extra layer of cream cheese before swirling. As in: first layer 1/3 banana bread batter, then 1/2 cream cheese mixture, then another 1/3 banana bread mixture, last 1/2 of cream cheese mixture, and lastly the remaining banana bread batter. Then swirl your knife around a few times to create that beautiful ribbon.

But whether you go all out on cream cheese, or just a hint, this banana bread will leave you wanting more…and more…and MORE. Now that is a guarantee.

What isn’t so much of a guarantee is how long it takes children’s eyebrows to grow back. I guess we shall see.

What crazy stunts did you pull as a kid?

5.0 from 1 reviews

Gluten Free Cream Cheese Swirl Banana Bread

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

 

A perfectly sweet banana bread with a ribbon of cream cheese filling with this Gluten Free Cream Cheese Swirl Banana Bread. What a treat!

Author: Brielle

Recipe type: Bread

Serves: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• For the Banana Bread:
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1⅓ cups mashed bananas (about 3 medium)
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1½ teaspoons cinnamon
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
• ½ cup sweet sorghum flour
• ½ cup gluten free oat flour
• ½ cup brown rice flour
• ½ cup potato starch
• 2 tablespoons tapioca starch
• For the Cream Cheese Swirl:*
• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon oat flour
• 1 tablespoon sorghum flour
• 1 tablespoon potato starch
• dash of salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour loaf pan using cooking spray and any gluten free flour. Set aside.
2. In a large sized mixing bowl, melt butter in microwave. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, mashed banana, and vanilla and mix until smooth.
3. In a separate smaller mixing bowl, sift together salt, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, sorghum flour, oat flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed.
5. In another small mixing bowl, make the cream cheese swirl by mixing together all ingredients until smooth.
6. Add ⅔ of the banana bread batter to the loaf pan. Add cream cheese mixture on top. Add remaining banana bread batter on top. Using a knife, cut through batter to make swirls in the banana bread.*
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until top of banana bread springs back at the touch of a finger and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.**
8. Remove pan from oven and set on a cooling rack. Once bread has cooled for 15 minutes, gently flip out of loaf pan and invert to continue cooling.
9. Store in a loosely covered container for up to 3 days at room temperature or in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 months in the freezer.

Notes

*If you are a huge cream cheese fan, I would suggest doubling the ingredients for the cream cheese swirl and making and extra layer of cream cheese before swirling. As in: first layer ⅓ banana bread batter, then ½ cream cheese mixture, then another ⅓ banana bread mixture, last ½ of cream cheese mixture, and lastly the remaining banana bread batter. Then swirl your knife around a few times to create that beautiful ribbon.
**If top is browning too quickly and center is not set, cover loosely with foil and continue baking.

3.5.3208