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Have you ever gone to the grocery store and forgotten that you already had a particular item at home, so you buy that item again? How about if you buy that item again x 2? How about if it is bananas that you have now bought three times?
That’s a lot of bananas. Don’t even ask me how it happened. I don’t want to talk about it.
The bottom line is this: I have been making banana bread and have been immensely blessed with finding this recipe. It is making a lovely dent in the banana bounty at my house. Plus, I can give the banana bread away to my neighbors or take it to work. Giving away banana bread works so much better than giving away bananas.
That would be hilarious (and incredibly strange) if someone showed up at your door with bananas. “Hi. I was just thinking of you, so I brought you some bananas”.
You’d probably think, “Hmmm…somebody must be off their meds.” At least that’s what I’d think. Nurses think that way a lot. As a matter of fact, whenever any of my patients or their family members admit to an odd behavior, I kind of smirk at them and say something to the effect, “You know, they have a pill for that now.” The family members usually laugh, but the patient gives me ‘the look’. I snicker and walk out of the room.
The original recipe does not have nuts in it, but both my husband and I enjoy having nuts in the bread. Pecans are my nuts of preference. I can also imagine that this bread would be excellent with chocolate chips. So many options. I love the crumble on top, it adds another element of taste and texture. However, the basic recipe is wonderful, just as it stands without the additions of pecans or chocolate chips.
Brown Butter Banana Bread or Muffins
Ingredients
For the Bread
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 egg
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups mashed, ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Crumb Topping
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter, cold
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan, and set aside. Note: An 8 1/2″ x 4″ loaf pan will give a taller loaf. A 9″ x 5″ loaf pan will give a shorter, wider loaf. If the recipe is doubled you can get 12 muffins and (1) 9″ x 5″ loaf. (Double it, double it, double it…)
- In a small saucepan, over medium heat, cook the butter, stirring occasionally, until it darkens. This took approximately 6 minutes. Watch the butter carefully because it can burn easily. It should have a nutty smell to it. Once the butter has browned, remove from the heat, and cool slightly.
For the Crumble
- While the butter is cooling, combine the ingredients for the crumble in a medium bowl. Use your hands or a fork to mix the butter into the dry ingredients until crumbly and pea-sized. Set aside.
For the Bread
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat together the the egg and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Slowly mix in the brown butter.
- Add the mashed bananas, the milk and the vanilla extract, and mix on medium speed until combined.
- By hand, stir in the flour mixture just until combined. I am recommending mixing in the flour mixture by hand rather than by using the electric mixer because over mixing will cause a tough loaf.
- Pour into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the top of the batter.
- Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Start checking your loaf at about the 50 minute mark. Of course, the size of pan used will influence the baking time. Muffins take about 20-25 minutes. Allow the bread to cool before slicing.
Notes
Wow.. what a lovely banana bread recipe. I love the crumb topping! I think that it just gives a wonderful finish. I am still curious how you ended up with so many bananas… me… I just buy too much if it’s on sale (do you recall my 24lbs of sweet potatoes). 🙂 Beautiful pictures. I really loved what you wrote, you helped me understand so much about lens etc… Thanks again! 🙂
Ramona–sometimes I buy bananas and sometimes I AM bananas. This time, however, I was bananas when I bought the bananas. As per the lens info, I forgot to tell you to look at refurbished cameras and lenses on the internet. My 50mm f1.4 lens was refurbished and cost much less than a new lens. It works very well. Also, here is a link to a blog which has some good tutorials on food photography http://taylortakesataste.com/food-photography-tips-tricks-and-tutorials/. Click on the various pics on the page to be taken to each tutorial.
…laughing… that would be hilarious if you took someone bananas. I have to admit I sat down at my computer tonight hoping you had a new post because, seriously, you crack me up. I love your stories. The nurse/meds references, the banana jokes, all of it! This bread looks amazing! Especially with the crumble on top.
I had a good chuckle, too, at the thought of showing up at someone’s door with bananas. So, you know how sometimes we give/get the dry ingredients for bread or cookies all dressed up in a jar or bag with a recipe attached? What if someone gave you some overly ripe bananas with a little card attached for making banana bread!?! That would actually be hilarious…but only among good friends. Do I sense an April Fool’s stunt approaching?
I am so laughing right now! That would be hilarious!! Brown bananas with a cute recipe card attached. Hahahaha! If you do it, I’d love to hear the story. Sounds like a good blog post . . . .
TOO Funny! ! ! ! :o)
Yes, please show up with banana bread and not bananas – LOL. This looks like a delicious recipe!
Only the best for you, dearie!
Side note not about bananas or banana bread, I was thinking of recipes you could put on your blog. The asparagus tricia makes in the oven, the margarita tomato sauce when we get some fresh tomatoes in this summer, nama’s orange rolls, hawaiian haystacks (mainly just the sauce part of it…I haven’t met anyone who makes the sauce like you. They usually just use cream of chicken soup), swedish meatballs, uncle jeff’s world famous punch (hehe…but really), dutch oven peach cobbler, just your regular white bread. I could go on, but I think those are enough ideas to keep you going for a while.
Good ideas, Diddle. I sure wish I had some of Nama’s orange rolls right now! Just fyi–I do have recipes for the Swedish meatballs and the margarita tomato sauce on here,so we can check those off of the list. I have been working on some posts, but there have been an increasing number of events which have prevented me from accomplishing my goals. I’ve been thinking about the white bread a lot lately; it especially has a history because it was Nama who taught me how to make it and it was you who ‘inspired’ me to make it with honey instead of sugar. Love you and thanks for the ideas. ~Mom
I had a bunch of bananas well past their prime and I doubled the recipe and baked them in small loaf pans 5 x 3 inch aluminum disposable pans to give as mother’s day gifts to all the women in the family. I baked them for approx. 30-35 minutes. I wrapped them in cute little treat bags with twist ties and I think they look adorable. I just tried a piece and I must agree with you, this is the best banana bread I have ever eaten. I made the recipe without nuts this first time but will definitely experiment with probably walnuts next time. I bake all the time and have a ton of cookbooks and this will now be my go to banana bread. Thanks so much for posting this recipe; it is unbelievably delicious. Love, love that brown butter!
Hi Debbie. Thank you so much; I’m happy that you like the recipe. Isn’t brown butter amazing?! Your gift idea sounds so darling. I wish that I had thought of something like that. Walnuts would taste excellent in this bread; good idea. Happy Mother’s Day. ~Terri