Strawberry Cheesecake Banana Bread

 

Oh, you read that right... Strawberry.  Cheesecake.  Banana.  Bread. 

Born from the need to use up very ripe fruit before it went to waste!  Truthfully, I was hoping the cheesecake would swirl into the bread more, but I think the cheesecake layer is just too runny for swirling into such a thick batter!  No matter!  It was just a delicious layer of strawberry cheesecake atop my banana bread!  I'm wondering if muffins would be a better form of this recipe?  To be tried next time!  In the meantime, I made it this way, I know it works, and I know it was bomb!

This band keeps popping into my punk stations on Pandora and when they come on, I'm always like, "Oh yeah, I like this song, who was this again?"  So I think it's time I buy an album or two!  The Loved Ones - Pretty Good Year.  -jen

STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE BANANA BREAD
Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Cook Time: 75-85 minutes
Resting Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Makes: 2 loaves

Strawberry Cheesecake Batter 

• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (use 3tbsp if you like it on the sweeter side)
• 16-ounces cream cheese, room temp (2 bricks)
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Banana Bread Batter

• 3 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups of ripe, mashed bananas (about 5 medium-sized)
• 2 eggs, slightly whisked
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (or vegetable oil)

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease two loaf pans (9" or 10") with nonstick cooking spray or butter and set aside.

Place sliced strawberries in a bowl and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar, set aside.  In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; make a well in the center.  In a medium bowl combine mashed bananas, 2 eggs, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar and coconut oil, mix well.   Pour the wet ingredients into the well you made in the dry ingredients and mix by hand, just until all of the flour is incorporated.

Using a stand mixer or electric mixer, whip softened cream cheese.  While the mixer is running add the 3 eggs and vanilla and mix until completely blended.  Then add the strawberries and all of their syrup and mix until just combined and most of the strawberries have broken up.  (It will look like Strawberry Quik!)

The left pan is swirled, right is about to be swirled.

Set aside 1 cup of the banana bread batter and pour the remaining mix into the loaf pans, half into each.  Smooth it out until even.  (If you have extra strawberries, I think I'd add a bunch to the top of the banana batter before this next step!)  Then pour the strawberry cheesecake mix on top of that.  Take the set aside cup of batter and spoon 1/2 down the center of each loaf.  Take a butter knife and just zig zag across the whole loaf pan once, from top to bottom.  (It doesn't swirl well, but I think it gives the cheesecake batter something to "hold on to".)  Bake for 75 minutes and use a butter knife to check for doneness - stick the butter knife straight down the center of one of the loaves (the largest one if yours are uneven), then pull it out.  If it comes out clean, your loaves are done.  If you're using 9" loaf pans, you may need 10 more minutes or so - just keep checking with a clean butter knife.

Allow to cool at least 30 minutes in the loaf pans - the cheesecake portion will need to "set".  Then remove from pans, slice and serve!  (Since this has a top layer of cheesecake, I store leftovers in the refrigerator.)

Cheddar Dill Scones

So this is an old recipe from several years back that I make every so often and realized that we hadn't yet shared.  I know scones aren't on everybody's list of "Stuff To Eat Whenever Possible" but these scones will be!  I have had some scones in my day that were awfully bland and much more akin to the offspring that would be produced by a hockey puck mating with a biscuit.  This is not okay.  Scones should be light, flaky, buttery, and generally awesome.  So I set out to make a good one and after tweaking a couple recipes to get the desired result, I have come up with this.

I like dill and cheddar but you could substitute any cheese and herb combo that you may desire.  Fennel and Havarti or Gruyere and basil or whatever you like.  Or leave out the cheese and herbs and toss in some fruit like blueberries or raspberries.

Since scones make me think of stuffy old British folk taking tea and how awfully boring that must be, I decided to rock out with someone Brits who may take their scones with some whiskey and a side of mayhem and blasted some Siouxsie & The Banshees.  I definitely like their earlier stuff so I went with a classic of theirs from 1977 "Bad Shape".  - justin

CHEDDAR DILL SCONES
Time: 35 min
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: As large or small as you want to make them but about 15

• 4 cups + 1/4 cup (to flour a rolling surface) of flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 2 tsp salt
• 3/4 lb cold, unsalted butter, diced into cubes (the butter must be refrigerated until final mixing or the scones will be small and dense)
• 4 extra large eggs, beaten lightly
• 1 cup cold heavy cream or half-and-half
• 1/2 lb extra sharp yellow cheddar, grated
• 1 cup fresh dill, minced fine
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water or milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Dice butter into cubes and put back in fridge for later use.  Add the 4 cups flour, the baking powder, and the salt to a large bowl and mix.  Take the butter cubes out of the fridge and add them to the flour mixture all at once and incorporate them with either a stand mixer or hand mixer/egg beaters until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.  Add the grated cheese and chopped dill and incorporate quickly.  Combine the eggs and heavy cream in a small bowl and mix them into the butter and flour mixture until it just holds together.  Do not over mix!  The scones will turn out like a hockey puck mated with a biscuit!  Again: Do not over mix!  Less is better!  If you aren't sure if you are over mixing, you are probably over mixing! 

Pour the dough out onto a surface dusted with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour and roll out into a rectangle 1 inch thick.  Cut into 4 inch squares and then in half diagonally to form triangles.  Mix the 1 egg and water/milk to make an egg wash and brush it on top of the scones.  Bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or sprayed with non-stick spray for 20 to 25 minutes or until the outside is a nice crusty brown and the inside is fully cooked.  Guess you'll just have to try one to see if they are!

Pumpkin Molasses Spice Cookies

I'd just had a craving for something pumpkin.  I'd had a can of pumpkin just hanging around.  And I love molasses as a sweetener.  So I thought I'd give it a shot.  I'm not into baking a whole lot - it's not that I can't, it just doesn't interest me as much as cooking does.  With cooking, it's pretty easy to experiment and not mess things up.  I don't know quite enough about baking to experiment successfully all the time.  Like the other day, I thought I'd make some blondies with chocolate chips in 'em.  I had a pretty quick, basic brownie recipe that I'd used before and I thought, "Oh, I'll just discard the cocoa powder, make it the same, no problem."  What I didn't think about until they were half way done baking was that it was 1/2 a cup of dry ingredients I just tossed.  And... my blondies came out like chocolate chip cookie soaked in butter for a day.  However... the Pumpkin Molasses Spice Cookie experiment came out awesome!  I'd make these again any day.  I went a little heavy on the spices, because I really like to taste the spice in spiced cookies... if you're not into spice, I guess you could probably just decrease the quantities.

Pumpkin... Halloween... naturally, it brought me to a toss up between The Cramps and The Damned.  But these spicy cookies had way more drive, like The Damned, and so I went with them.  Everyone who knows The Damned knows "New Rose".  Maybe it's just me, but I never get tired of this song, no matter how much I hear it.  It's one of those wake-me-up-in-the-morning songs for me. -jen

PUMPKIN MOLASSES SPICE COOKIES

• 2.5 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 8 tablespoons butter, room temp
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup 100% maple syrup
• 3/4 cup pumpkin pure (100% pumpkin)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup coarse sugar, for rolling

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and black pepper.  Set aside.

Using a stand mixer or hand held mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy.  Add the brown sugar, molasses and pumpkin until combined.  Scrape the sides and add the egg, beating until combined.  Slow mixer speed and add the dry ingredients, 1/3 of it at a time, combining well before additions.  Do not over-mix dough.  Dough will be soft and wet.

Spread out two large sheets of plastic wrap and divide the dough in half, one half on each sheet.  Fold up tight and freeze for 30-45 minutes, until firm, or refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Place sugar into shallow dish.  Roll dough into 1.5-2" diameter balls.  Roll balls into sugar to coat, and place onto cookie sheet, 2-3" apart.  Using the bottom of a glass, press dough balls into 1/4-1/2" thick cookies.


Bake one sheet at a time for 12-14 minutes until tops feel set and edges are starting to brown.  Remove from oven and slide parchment paper and cookies onto a cooling rack for about 5 minutes.

Makes 30-35 cookies.