Banana-Berry Cheesecake Bread

Berry season has arrived and we've been loving it. Last week I had a little light bulb moment and did a kitchen experiment. I'm sharing it today because we're friends. I'm calling it Banana-Berry Cheesecake Bread. It's a layer of cheesecake inside a loaf of strawberry-studded banana bread. What could go wrong? Well, you could forget to grease the pan, like I did, causing your beautiful loaves to tear when you flip them out. That would be bad. Grease your pan, and you'll be golden. Golden brown and delicious.

Here we go.

Banana-Berry Cheesecake Bread

• 1 1/2 c. AP flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. white sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 T. butter, melted
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 c. hulled and chopped strawberries
  
  
• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1. Grease and flour two loaf pans.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
2. Whisk together flour, soda, salt, and sugar.  Mix in 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, butter, and bananas.  Stir in strawberries.  Pour 1/4 of the batter into each loaf pan.  Set remaining batter aside.  
3. In a clean bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth.  Pour half of the cream cheese mixture into each loaf pan, top with remaining banana batter.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool loaves completely, remove from pans, and store in refrigerator.  Best when chilled.