Cream Cheese Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Last night during the storms, I listened to Gary England's live stream and perused Pinterest.  Very exciting right?  I found a good recipe, so at least it was productive night.  :) I knew I had all of the ingredients, so my daughter and I made them this morning.

You can find the original recipe at the Sugar & Spice blog.  I read through all the comments and I tweaked a few things.   You can tweak it any way you want to.  Also, I only had three bananas so I halved the recipe.  It made 12 muffins.  Halving the recipe will also make one loaf pan.  Here is the recipe.  I'll let you know what I changed.
 

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread

Ingredients

3/4 c. butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 c. sugar
2 large eggs
3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 medium bananas)
1 cup roughly chopped pecans, toasted (I substituted mini chocolate chips)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. of cinnamon (optional)

Directions

1.  Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

2.  Gradually add sugar to butter/cream cheese mixture until light and fluffy.

3. Add 1 egg at a time, beating until just blended.   

4.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon (if you are using it) in another bowl.

5.  Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture at low speed until blended.

6.  Stir in bananas, vanilla, and pecans (or chocolate chips or whatever other mix-ins you want).

7.  Spoon batter into two greased and floured 8x4 in. loaf pans. 

8.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Let cool for 10 minutes.

As I said before, I read through the comments and some people tweaked a few things.  For the regular loaf pans, some added foil the last 15 minutes to prevent browning.  Others opted to use mini loaf pans.  For a regular muffin pan I baked them at 350 for 25 minutes.

 

They turned out great!  I love nuts so next time I'll try to add some pecans.  I just didn't have any on hand.