Banana Bread Cream Cheese

Banana Bread Cream Cheese- Cream cheese is whipped with fresh banana, vanilla, and spices making the absolute perfect spring schmear.

March 15, 2025 by Nicole Collins

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Today, we’re making Banana Bread Cream Cheese!

So my coworkers and I have recently been planning our big escape. What’s the million dollar idea that can retire us all right here right now? We’ve dreamed up many businesses (most of them involve a beachfront view). But the one that currently has me the most excited is a bagel shop. Bagels on the Bay. Baygels…something beachy and exciting and obvi delicious.

This joyful little daydream has totally inspired me to dream up some fun and unique schmear flavors. Because let’s be honest, a bagel is a bagel. But the schmears are what get people excited. And lucky for you, you guys get to have a role in the big dream too…quality assurance. The way I see it, I share the recipes with you, you make them for your loved ones, you tell me how much you love them, the concept is proven, and BAM…gazillionaires. Sounds pretty simple to me!

Speaking of simple, today’s recipe could not possibly be any easier. Toss everything in a food processor, blend, and DONE. But when I tell you this schmear is so good you might cry, I mean it.

We’re going to use a mini food processor to blend everything together. If you don’t have a mini, you totally should. It’s worth the small investment, in my opinion. It’s probably one of my most used small appliances, actually. From sauces to schmears, it has the power of a full sized food processor for those jobs that don’t need all the space.

So to the food processor, we’re going to add some softened cream cheese, a ripe banana, a little cinnamon, some vanilla bean paste, and a splash of maple syrup to mimic the classic brown sugar banana bread vibes. Now just a note about the banana. We need a banana that’s ripe so it’s sweet but not banana bread ripe where it’s mushy. I’d say the step right before banana bread ripe is what we’re looking for. The peel is still yellow but with spots. The texture still has a slight firmness to it. That’s going to be the literal sweet spot for the banana part of this recipe. No fake fruit extracts here!

Once everything is blended, smooth, and creamy; pop it in the fridge for about an hour so those flavors can marry, and that’s all there is to it!

The banana bread cream cheese is not just for bagels, though obviously it’s superb on bagels. It’s light enough that it can be used as a dip for vanilla wafer cookies or graham crackers. I’ve also used it as a little plop in the center before baking chocolate muffins (think banana bread black bottom muffin YUM). If there’s one thing about me, it’s that I’m going to give you options. And this epic schmear is no different!

What I love the most about this schmear is that you can taste every thoughtful ingredient. You can taste the banana so presently. You can taste the warm cinnamon. You can taste the caramely notes in the maple. You can feel the creamy, fluffy cream cheese. This is what your brunch table has been missing, and you didn’t even know it!

Ok, everyone! I’m in full on spring/brunch/flower mode, so maybe our next recipe should embody all three??

In the meantime, enjoy! And if anyone wants to invest in bagels, my DMs are open…

Let’s eat!

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Banana Bread Cream Cheese

Serves: 1 cup          Print

Ingredients:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened

• 1 ripe banana, cut in quarters

• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

• ¾ tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 tbsp maple syrup

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to the bowl of a mini food processor. Blend until mixture is smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape down the sides, as needed.

2. Transfer to a storage container. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving. Enjoy!
   

Recipe notes:

*We need to a use a ripe banana for this so that it’s nice and sweet, but we don’t want it to be banana bread ripe. The stage right before that is perfect. Yellow with spots, but not soft or mushy yet. 

*This will last in the fridge for up to a week.

*This cream cheese works great on bagels (obvi), as a dip for vanilla wafer cookies, and even as an addition to chocolate chip muffins. (Check out my TikTok for the muffin recipe!) It’s so versatile!