I can recall the show "The Golden Girls" which had a daily ritual of the ladies gathering around a table and eating cheesecake in the afternoon. Even though I enjoy a good slice of cheesecake every now and then, I would not choose it for a daily ritual. In my opinion, biscotti or sweet loaf bread is more appropriate for an afternoon get together. Cheesecake is a little bit on the heavy, rich side of the dessert family.
While there are lots of sweet loaf bread recipes out there, my pantry had some macadamias that beckoned to be used. Also, I still had some pineapple left from the recent trifle I made. This narrowed down the choices to something in the Hawaiian category.
After working with this particular recipe, I found a few flaws. If I made it again, I would probably add more cream cheese than recommended. It is actually the cream cheese and the sour cream components that aid in keeping this bread from being dry. However, I still thought it could be more moist. This recipe calls for 1 pkg or 3 oz of cream cheese, which is quite a bit smaller than the standard 8 oz that we are used to. Also, I had a dark pan, which may have impacted the bake time. Instead of the recommended 70 minutes to bake in a nine inch loaf pan, mine was finished in 55 minutes - this may have been another factor that affected the texture. It may have already been done a little prior to me removing it from the oven.
All in all, this is one that you will need to tweak a little to get it to your liking in texture. The recipe is below, as originally stated.
Hawaiian Loaf
adapted from My Great Recipes/ Card222
Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped macadamias
2- 8 oz cans crushed pineapple, drained
1 pkg (3 oz) softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Prepare 2- 7 inch loaf or one 9 inch loaf pan by greasing the interior and lining the bottom and two long sides with parchment paper. Grease face up side of paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Continue to beat and slowly pour in sugar. Once all is blended add vanilla extract and the egg. Beat for 30 seconds on medium high.
Fold in 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the cream cheese mixture. Then mix in half of the sour cream. Repeat the process and end with folding in the last 1/3 of the sifted ingredients. Add the nuts and pineapple and stir until evenly distributed. Spoon into pan(s) and smooth the top.
Place in oven and bake. Recipe recommends 45 minutes for the small pans and 70 minutes for the 9 inch pan. Test for doneness after 30 minutes on the small loafs and 50 on the larger. Bread is done when tester comes out clean.
Remove and place pan on rack for 10 minutes to cool. Remove loaf (loaves) and let completely cool before slicing.
**LAST YEAR: Mint Chocolate Cupcakes***