Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread

Yield: makes 2 large loaves Ingredients: walnuts - 1 ½ cups (150 g), roughly chopped and toasted butter - 3/4 cup (170 g), softened cream cheese - 1 8 oz package (200 g), softened white sugar - 1 ½ cup brown sugar - ½ cup eggs - 2 large vanilla extract - 1 tsp all-purpose flour - 3 cups baking powder - ½ tsp baking soda - ½ tsp salt - ½ tsp banana - 4 medium, mushed

Instructions: Pre heat oven to 350 F (175 C), and grease two bread pans. Toast the walnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant, about 3 – 5 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool. Put the butter and cream cheese into a large bowl and mix until blended and creamy. Add the sugars, and beat well to combine. Blend in the vanilla, and then add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one to blend. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, then add to the wet and mix at a low speed, until just blended. Stir in the bananas and walnuts.

Scrape dough evenly into well-greased bread pans, and bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean. Cool bread on wire rack for about 15 minutes, then remove from pans and allow to cool an additional 30 minutes before slicing, to avoid excessive crumbling.