Brown Butter-Cardamom Banana Bread
Two simple changes, and zero additional effort, make banana bread holiday-worthy, and we now only make it this way.
- Makes1 9-inch Loaf
- Cook Time1 hour 15 minutes
- Active time plus cooling25 minutes active
- 35
For a more flavorful banana bread without more effort, we paired one of banana’s most complementary spices, cardamom, with nutty browned butter. Blooming the spice in hot butter intensified the flavor. For just the right texture, we found we needed two leaveners. Baking powder gave the bread lift; baking soda resulted in a well-browned top and a pleasantly dense crumb. While we preferred the deeper flavor of dark brown sugar here, light brown works just as well. Sprinkling granulated sugar over the top of the loaf just before baking created a crisp, brown crust that we loved.
Don’t forget to remove the saucepan from the heat before adding the cardamom and mashed bananas. This ensures the butter and pan will cool sufficiently so the eggs won’t curdle when whisked in.
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