Brown Butter Banana Breadwith Cinnamon Sugar
A warm, simple loaf for slow mornings.
There is a particular kind of optimism involved in buying bananas.
You bring them home green, fully convinced that this is the week everyone will eat fruit.
Then Tuesday happens.
By Friday, three bananas are sitting on the counter looking like they've been through something.
This is their moment.
Not a smoothie.
Not the freezer.
Banana bread.
And if we're already making banana bread, we might as well brown the butter.
The Butter Is Worth It
Brown butter sounds like the sort of thing that requires culinary training.
It does not.
You put butter in a pan and wait.
First it melts. Then it foams. Then, just when you begin wondering whether anything is actually happening, little golden-brown bits appear at the bottom and the whole kitchen starts smelling toasted and nutty.
That's it.
You have become a person who browns butter.
Try to remain humble.
Do not walk away during the last minute. Brown butter has a very short journey from perfect to regrettable.
The Bananas Should Look Questionable
This is not the recipe for your beautiful yellow bananas.
We want the ones nobody wants anymore.
Deeply spotted. Very soft. Possibly inspiring concern.
Those are the bananas with the most sweetness and flavor.
Mash them with a fork. They do not need to become perfectly smooth. A few small pieces are welcome.
Banana bread is forgiving like that.
Brown Butter Banana Breadwith Cinnamon Sugar
- Makes
- 1 loaf
- Prep
- 15 minutes
- Bake
- about 50–60 minutes
What You'll Need
- ½ cupunsalted butter
- 3very ripe medium bananas, mashed, about 1¼ cups
- ¾ cuppacked light brown sugar
- 2large eggs
- 1 teaspoonvanilla extract
- ¼ cupplain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1¾ cupsall-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoonbaking soda
- ½ teaspoonkosher salt
- ½ teaspoonground cinnamon
For the Cinnamon Sugar
- 2 tablespoonsgranulated sugar
- 1 teaspoonground cinnamon
- A little softened butter for the pan
Make the Loaf
01 · Brown the Butter
Melt the butter in a small light-colored saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking, swirling occasionally, until it foams and the milk solids at the bottom turn golden brown and smell nutty.
Pour it immediately into a mixing bowl, including all those browned bits.
Let it cool for about 10 minutes.
02 · Make the Batter
Heat the oven to 350°F.
Butter a 9 × 5-inch loaf pan and line it with parchment if you'd like an easy lift.
Whisk the mashed bananas, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and yogurt into the cooled brown butter.
In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture just until no dry streaks remain.
Do not keep mixing because it suddenly feels productive.
We're making banana bread, not proving anything.
03 · The Cinnamon Sugar
Stir the granulated sugar and cinnamon together.
Pour half the batter into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle a light layer of cinnamon sugar over it.
Add the remaining batter.
Finish with the rest of the cinnamon sugar over the top.
Run a butter knife through the batter once or twice for a loose swirl.
Once or twice.
We are not stirring it back together after all that work.
Then Leave It Alone
Bake for about 50 to 60 minutes, until the loaf is deeply golden and a tester inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
If the top is browning faster than the middle is baking, loosely cover it with foil toward the end.
Then comes the difficult part.
Wait.
Give it at least 20 minutes in the pan before lifting it out.
Warm banana bread is wonderful.
Banana bread that collapses because someone became impatient is less wonderful.
The First Slice Is Not the Best Slice
This is controversial, but I stand by it.
The loaf is lovely warm from the oven.
But several hours later, when the brown butter and banana have settled into each other and that cinnamon ribbon has softened into the crumb?
Better.
And tomorrow morning?
Possibly better still.
Toast a thick slice until the edges catch a little.
Butter it while it's hot.
Make coffee.
The Bananas Were Never the Problem
Maybe this is why banana bread has survived every food trend we've thrown at it.
It begins with something that looks past its usefulness.
Then butter, flour, sugar and a little heat turn it into the thing everyone suddenly wants.
There is probably a metaphor in there.
We're going to leave it alone.
For once.
Save the Last Piece
Wrap the loaf once it's completely cool and leave it on the counter for the next morning.
Or freeze individual slices and toast them straight from the freezer whenever the house needs to smell like something good is happening.
Some mornings need banana bread.
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