THE Brown Butter-Cardamom Banana Bread

• servings: 1 loaf
• active time: 25 minutes
• total time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

113 grams (8 tablespoons) salted butter, plus more for the pan

260 grams cups (2 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon table salt

1¼ teaspoons ground cardamom

533 grams (2 cups) mashed ripe bananas (from 4 or 5 large bananas)

149 grams (3/4 cup packed) dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tablespoon white sugar (optional)

Directions

Heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the upper-middle position. Mist a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Once melted, continue to cook, swirling the pan often, until the butter is fragrant and deep brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately whisk in the cardamom.

Carefully add the bananas (the butter will sizzle and bubble up) and whisk until combined. Add the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla, then whisk until smooth. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and, using a silicone spatula, fold until just combined and no dry flour remains.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with the white sugar, if using. Bake until the loaf is well browned, the top is cracked and a toothpick inserted at the center of the loaf comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn out the loaf and cool completely before serving. Cooled bread can be wrapped tightly and stored at room temperature for up to 4 days or refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Notes

177 Milk Street

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.