Caramelized bananas and vanilla cream cheese swirled into a classic brownie batter, these Banana Cream Cream Cheese Brownies are so decadent and so delicious.

Side view of a slice of caramelized banana cream cheese brownie on a white and blue plate.

How to make extra fudgy brownies?

The key to really fudgy brownies is only using a little bit of flour and not over baking them. While I haven’t tested making these gluten free I think they’d be a great recipe to replace the all purpose flour with gluten free 1:1 flour.

How to quickly ripen bananas?

If your bananas aren’t ripe, don’t stress just put them (still with the peels on) onto a small baking sheet. Bake them at 350 F for 10 minutes until black. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool before peeling and using.

Can these be made without bananas?

Totally, you can absolutely just make these cream cheese swirled brownies!

Additional Recipes to try!

Tips for making Banana Cream Cheese Brownies

If your bananas aren’t ripe, don’t stress just put them (still with the peels on) onto a small baking sheet. Bake them at 350 F for 10 minutes until black. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool before peeling and using.
Because the bananas aren’t part of the batter, it’s not super important to have an exact size but I generally go for medium large. If yours are little you could totally do 3 bananas.
While any chocolate will work in these brownies, I recommend using dark chocolate so they don’t get too sweet.
Make sure to fully whisk the sugar into the butter, at first it can seem like they won’t combine while cooking, but just keep whisking.
If you don’t have espresso powder/instant espresso don’t stress. It adds a little extra something but it’s not crucial.
After adding the first egg the batter may thicken strangely but don’t stress just keep going and it’ll all be ok.
These brownies are hard to over mix because there isn’t much flour in them, that being said it’s always best to stop whisking when no more dry flour is visible.
Be careful not to over swirl the fillings into the batter, if you do you’ll have a bit of a brown mush on top lol.
Bake until just set, to keep these brownies fudgy you don’t want to over bake them so just go until the top is shiny and slightly cracked and the edges have set.
Let them cool!!! To get clean sliced brownies, you have to let them cool. They’re absolutely delicious hot and gooey but they won’t look nice.

Ingredients

Butter: Salted butter is the base of these brownies and for caramelizing the bananas, no need for it to be room temperature because it will get melted down.
Sugar: This recipe uses dark brown sugar for both the brownies and the bananas! If you only have light brown sugar that will work too!
Cinnamon: A dash of cinnamon gives the caramelized banana that yummy warm toastiness.
Bananas: Fresh or frozen bananas will work! If you use frozen, let them defrost and they will probably break down a little more, that’s ok!
Vanilla Extract: Vanilla adds a little flavor and enhances the flavors of the chocolate, bananas, and cream cheese filling.
Salt: Salt balances out the sweetness and enhances the flavors of these brownies.
Espresso Powder: Technically optional but espresso powder really enhances chocolate flavors without making the brownies taste like coffee.
Cocoa Powder: I now only use 100% natural cocoa powder but dutch processed works too!
Eggs: I use standard large eggs from the store. There are three whole eggs in the brownie batter and one in the cream cheese filling!
All Purpose Flour: Any all purpose flour should work in these brownies! I have been wanting to test these with rye flour too. If you test them I recommend starting with swapping out half of the flour with rye flour.
Baking Powder: Baking powder gives these brownies just the right amount of lift.
Chocolate: You can basically add any chocolate into these brownies from chocolate chips to chocolate chunks. I recommend dark chocolate but you can also leave it out all together!
Cream Cheese: any brand of cream cheese should work for this just don’t substitute with a low fat option.

Overhead view of a banana cream cheese brownie on a white and blue plate.

How to make Banana Cream Cheese Brownies?

Caramelize the Bananas

In a medium flat bottomed pan add in 2 tablespoons of salted butter. Place the pan over low heat to melt the butter. Sprinkle in the brown sugar and cinnamon.
Peel and slice two bananas, it doesn’t matter to much how you slice them because we’ll be smushing them with a fork once they’ve softened.
Keep the heat over low or medium low. Use a spatula or a spoon to push the bananas around a bit to keep them from sticking and slowly start to break them up.
After a couple minutes, they should be nice and soft. Use a fork to mash them up. There will still be banana clumps but there shouldn’t be any pieces larger than 1/2″ chunks.
Turn off the heat, sprinkle in the flaky salt and pour in the vanilla. Stir to combine and set aside to cool.

Cream Cheese Filling

In a medium mixing bowl, whip the cream cheese until smooth. Crack in the egg and then add in the salt and vanilla.
Beat again on medium speed until smooth. Set aside.

Brownie Batter

Preheat the oven to 350 F and place a rack in the center of the oven.
In a medium pot add in the butter, brown sugar, espresso powder, and salt. Place over medium low heat to melt the butter. Whisk occasionally until the butter has melted.
Continue to cook and whisk until the butter and sugar are completely mixed, smooth and bubbling. Keep cooking and whisking for 2-3 minutes after it has started to bubble.
Add in the cocoa powder and vanilla and whisk again. Allow it to cool for at least 5 minutes but ideally 10.
Then crack in all 3 eggs, one at a time whisking until mixed in between each addition.
Pour in the flour and baking powder and whisk once more until just combined.
Last but not least pour the chocolate chips into the batter and stir to combine.
Line an 8″ x 8″ square metal baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper for an easy lift out.

Assemble

Pour 95% (like basically all except scraping the sides of the pot) of the brownies batter into the lined metal pan.
Dollop the cream cheese filling (about 2 tablespoons at a time) all over the surface of the batter.
Then dollop the caramelized bananas in between the dollops of the cream cheese. Finally scoop the remaining brownie batter into small 5-6 little dollops on top wherever you want. Use a knife to gently drag lines in an s pattern over the surface first snaking up and down in one direction. Then turn the pan 90 degrees and snake back up and down.

Bake

Bake the brownies in the hot oven for 30 minutes, then rotate 180 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes until the whole top has puffed and cracked.
It should still have a wobble to it.
Remove the pan from the oven. Leave to cool to room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour.
Slice the set brownies with a hot knife, cleaning between each slice, to get clean cuts and serve immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature.

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