Jamaican Banana Bread

Tonight I was mindlessly thumbing through one of my favorite cookbooks All-New Complete Cooking Light and came to this recipe for Jamaican Banana Bread. It jumped out at me because it's more flavorful than regular banana bread but really only 6 more calories per serving. The book and the online version do differ slightly as the book says to use butter not margarine which, since the original recipe was done in 1997 it's been proven that butter is actually healthier than margarine, leads me to believe it was updated for the book. The bread recipe also calls for a topping but I omitted that since I didn't feel it was necessary. Also, I was out of pecans so I used almonds and they worked just fine!
















Ingredients

Cooking spray
2 tablespoons stick butter, softened
2 tablespoons tub light cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons dark rum or 1/4 teaspoon imitation rum extract (I used Captain Morgan)
1/2 teaspoon grated lime rind
2 teaspoons lime juice (I used the juice of one lime)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 375°. Coat an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray; set aside.

Beat 2 tablespoons margarine and cheese at medium speed of a mixer; add 1 cup sugar, beating well. Add egg; beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir well. Combine banana and next 5 ingredients (banana through vanilla); stir well. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with banana mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix after each addition. Stir in 1/4 cup pecans and 1/4 cup coconut.

Pour batter into prepared pan; bake at 375° for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan. Let cool slightly on a wire rack.