Cream Cheese Banana Bread with Streusel Topping… and Life

There are moments that come, these cravings that don’t call for food, just a desire to be in the kitchen.  To stand over a pot of something good and stir.  To slip a pan full of a mushy mess into the oven and pray it comes out good while the house fills with mouth watering scents.  To let my firstborn explore, my girl who has the same appetite for the kitchen welling up inside of her… who when she sees a few bananas browning in our fruit bowl says, “Mother, can we make banana bread?!!”

Yes, she’s taken to calling me mother. It’s completely adorable, full of love and yet a little sad all at the same time because she sounds so old.  

Usually my desire for baking seems to flourish in the Fall, when the air is chilly and our bodies call for something warm, when I drool at the thought of cinnamon and spices, apples and butter.  But our Spring has been having a bit of a personality crisis and the air has been thoroughly chilled.  While I still look forward to the moment the sun comes a shinin’ and brings with it a few warm bursts, and though the fervor for Spring newness has already ignited me since I’ve been cleaning and purging for the last month, I needed a little extra warmth.  Really though, anytime is a good time to bake up a batch of some heart-warming goodness.  So, on the fifth, “Please, mother, banana bread?” I happily obliged, and slung my matching apron over my neck.

Oh, and the Spring cleaning thing? I’m on FI-YAH, nothing in my home is safe from the Cleansing Wrath of Tabitha.

I had to peel the bananas for her while she stood a good ten feet away saying things like, “EEEWWWWW.” But she did the rest, a total pro at mashing the bananas. And okay, maybe she wasn’t quite ten feet, it may have just been a mere ten inches.

(If you need to brown your bananas, stick em’ in the freezer overnight and then set on the counter the next morning to thaw. Brown and gooey.)

I can recall a few memories in the kitchen with my mother while growing up. The coziness, the warmth, the excitement of learning something new and being around danger… knives and a hot stove.  The empowerment that I could be trusted to make something, and it could turn out delicious or disastrous, but we wouldn’t know for another 30 minutes at 350F.

I hope to pass that along to my girl now. The empowering notion that she can do what she sets her mind to.  That she can finish what she starts with beautiful results. That when we mix in all the amazing moments of our lives, some ingredients and some experiences good on their own, some not-so-good, it all bakes together and makes us the wonderful being we are today.

That’s why I let her pour and measure, letting me know when we’ve reached one cup or two.  I pretend to be surprised by the gloppy mess in the mixer, and I can live with spilled flour on the counter or a tad extra vanilla in the bowl.  We laugh and we talk, and something about it all is just a little… cozy.

Wow, got a little philosophical didn’t I?  Now back to the regularly scheduled programming…

Bottom line, you have GOT to try this recipe. Chris, who does NOT like banana bread, tried it because his daughter made it and if you have kids, you completely understand why you’d eat the crazy, random concoctions they create for us. But hey, at least this time she had a little help. And you know what? He loved it.  Like, he really loved it, not just the pretending-to-like-it thing for the sake of his daughter… it’s that good.

FRESH MOMMY BANANA BREAD:
(adapted from a Tasty Kitchen recipe)
½ cup Butter
8 ounces Cream Cheese
2 cups Sugar
3 Mashed Bananas
3 cups Flour
½ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Vanilla

STRE– USEL TOPPING:
1 Tablespoon Flour
½ teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Butter
½ cup Brown Sugar
½ teaspoon Nutmeg

Preparation Instructions:
Cream butter, cheese, sugar and banana. Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Divide into two greased bread pans.
Mix the topping ingredients in a separate bowl till crumbly. Add on top of batter. Bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes.

Enjoy!

Linking this post up with Tidy Mom’s I’m lovin’ It Fridays.