It's Ba-na-nas

Sure we've all made banana bread sometime or another. It's a basic. When I stumbled on this recipe I was really excited to switch up my plain old, stand-by recipe. This is more like a "gourmet" version of banana bread. Something you would see in a little bakery boutique in NYC. The best thing is it's really simple to make, but tastes like you slaved over it! The cinnamon sugar mixture placed inside the bread forms a warm, gooey middle and the rest is poured on top to form a crispy, sweet crust. YUM! Talk about comfort food at its best! With the cold weather outside I get a craving for warm, toasty baked goods straight from the oven. Oh, wait......I crave that all year round. Never mind.

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread (adapted from Lovin' From The Oven)

Ingredients:

3 over-ripe bananas

1/3 cup melted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups flour

For the swirl & topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside. Stir together sugar and cinnamon mixture and set aside.

2. Peel bananas and place in a large bowl and mash well with a fork. Stir in melted butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. 

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. 

4. Slowly stir flour mixture into wet ingredients.

5. Pour half of batter into loaf pan. Sprinkle a little more than half of the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the batter.

6. Spread remaining batter over top. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar. 

7. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack.