Cinnamon Sugar Banana Bread

We have had an abundance of overripe bananas in our house lately, and although I have a great go-to recipe for regular banana bread, I thought it might be time to try something new.  Let me just say that this was a great idea!  While I have paired banana bread with cream cheese frosting before (amazing, by the way), I've never thought to use cinnamon.  The bread is moist and slightly spiced, and the topping is obviously sweet and delightfully crunchy, but still soft.

I made a few modifications to the original recipe, increasing the amount of flour and mashed bananas a little bit, and making two smaller loaves instead of one huge loaf.  If you would rather make one loaf, half the topping recipe and bake for about 10-15 minutes longer.  

Cinnamon Sugar Banana Bread
Adapted from Cannella Vita

For bread:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
2 large eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup honey
¼ cup water

For topping:
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
5 Tbsp. packed dark brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter and flour two 9"x5" metal loaf pans.  Or, spray with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper, letting the excess hang over the sides.  I used cooking spray without the parchment paper, and it was really difficult to get the bread out without messing up the topping.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the banana, eggs, oil, honey, and water. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir well.  Pour the batter into the prepared pans.

In a small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients. Sprinkle them evenly over the batter in both pans and pat down.

Bake the bread until a tester inserted into its center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Then carefully remove the bread from the pans, taking care not to dislodge the topping. Cool completely before slicing.

Makes 2 loaves.