Brown Butter Banana Bread

I've made a few dry, plain, not that tasty banana breads, so I don't really agree with what most blog entries about banana breads say - that it's so easy and foolproof. My past few attempts have been extra good, though, including this one with brown butter, so it makes me want to make banana bread a lot more often.

My all-time favorite banana bread is the Nutella-swirled one I posted way back in March 2013. Also, if you want to do the opposite of this brown butter version and not include butter at all, you could try Michelle's vegan version with homemade vegan Nutella. And Julia posted a whole wheat flour version almost exactly two years ago! 

When Joy the Baker's posted this recipe, it was made with cranberries - I have fresh cranberries in the freezer and was fully intending to put them in the batter but decided not to at the last minute. Even though I really like baking with fresh cranberries, I just wanted a more simple banana bread this time. In Joy the Baker's recipe, she adds 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries to the batter, folding it in right before turning the batter into the loaf pan. 

Brown Butter Banana Bread

Adapted from Joy the Baker

For the bread

6 ounces unsalted butter, melted and browned to just over 1/2 cup of butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

2 large eggs

3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 1/4 cup mashed banana (from about 3 medium bananas)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup plain yogurt

For the crumble

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons lightly packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup oats

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Prepare a loaf pan with a little oil and line with parchment paper.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat until slightly browned - keep swirling it in the pan to avoid burning.

In a large bowl, whisk together most of the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, mashed bananas, vanilla extract, and yogurt. When butter has cooled, whisk in the browned butter.

Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Fold together, just enough to find any flour pockets but without over-mixing.

To make the crumble, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until crumbly.

Turn batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to rest in the pan for 15 minutes, before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.