Cinnamon-Banana Bread

An easy quick bread recipe — Cinnamon-Banana Bread— has a sugared streusel topping and cinnamon-swirl center. While I love a good chocolate-chip or nut-studded banana bread, nothing compares to adding a cinnamon swirl and crunchy streusel on top! This banana bread is moist, cinnamon-y, and has a sweet fruity aroma. Cinnamon is a great complementary flavor to bananas — you’ll love it in this bread!

This particular recipe doesn’t have a high rise or a light texture; it’s very much a moist, dense hearty quick-bread loaf. This Cinnamon-Banana Bread calls for Greek yogurt in the batter.

Do not try to use low-fat Greek yogurt or plain (non-Greek) yogurt in this bread. They won’t yield the same result. A full-fat sour cream will work in place of the Greek yogurt. Use very ripe bananas. The riper the banana, the sweeter and moister the bread turns out. I wait until my bananas are pretty much brown and spotty all over. See the quick tip box below for speeding up the ripening process.

Thoroughly mash the bananas to avoid unpleasant chunks in the cinnamon banana bread. If you don’t want to take the time to mash with a fork, use an electric hand mixer to mash them quickly.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter at room temperature, NOT melted
• 1 cup (203g) white granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup (~2 medium) (234g) overripe bananas mashed with a fork
• 1/2 cup (120g) full-fat vanilla Greek yogurt (plain sour cream also works)
• 1 and 1/2 cups (192g) all-purpose white flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• Cinnamon Swirl
• 1/4 cup (50g) light brown sugar lightly packed
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• Streusel Topping
• 4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter melted and cooled to room temperature
• 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons (75g) white, all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (63g) light brown sugar lightly packed
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt