Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

The perfect banana bread! Moist, easy, delicious, and accented with a thick swirl of cinnamon sugar. Don't throw out those brown bananas - make this instead!

A few weeks ago we went on vacation. And in typical pre-vacation form, I was frantically cleaning my house, doing laundry, packing, and sorting through the fridge the night before we left.

Jason had bought 7 bananas, stored them behind a box on the counter, and promptly forgot about them. I discovered them at midnight while cleaning the kitchen. So what does anyone do when exhausted and stressed about getting it all done? They bake.

Thankfully, this is a toss-it-together-in-5-minutes baking exercise so I wasn't up all night. Since we had so many bananas, I made 2 loaves. One went with us on vacation and one was frozen. Both were perfect in every way! And, I didn't have to throw out 7 super ripe bananas on our way out of town.

You could add a powdered sugar glaze over top if you like a super sweet banana bread. I don't think it needs it :)

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

For the bread:

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

4 tablespoons butter, room temperature

2 eggs

3 very ripe bananas, mashed (should be 1.5 cups)

1/3 cup plain or Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the swirl:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon for the swirl and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar and butter with a hand mixer until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between each. Stir in the mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently mix together. Don't overmix.

Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture over top. Spoon the remaining batter and smooth it out on top. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes then transfer the bread out of the pan and onto a cooling rack. 

Store in a sealed container at room temperature or wrap it well and freeze. 

Source: adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction