Brown Butter Muscovado Banana Bread

I’m having one of those so-much-to-say-I-have-nothing-to-say moments. Maybe it’s because it’s getting cooler? The sky a little darker? Or perhaps because I have a moment to breathe. I was going to talk about how busy I’ve been. We’ve been. How I haven’t taken two seconds to  pause. None of us have. How grateful I am for the work I’ve been getting. I’m talking grateful beyond words. How I secretly hope that it doesn’t stop. My kids are happy. And nice. And seem generally good with life. It’s chilly. I make banana bread.

Election coverage. It’s unsettling. And almost over. Also unsettling. Thoughts of gingerbread and Christmas lights flicker through my mind. Stella listens to Halsey. Gavin sneaks Minecraft. We eat crispy shredded beef tacos. More school. More work. More sports. More banana bread. We love it. But the chocolate sinks. We eat more. We rush to school…rush to sports. Sleep a bit…rush a bit…sleep a bit. I get a new project. I make more banana bread. It tastes delicious. The middle sinks. Just a hair. But just enough. We agree it’s the best we’ve had. Tired. We sleep early. Insomnia. 1am…2am…3am…making cookies and breakfast buns and banana bread. Coordinating oven time so everything’s done by the start of school. By noon, a nap. Halloween is perfect. Not in a fairy tale way. Messy perfect. We wear jackets and scarves and fingerless mittens. The kids have homework. On Halloween. Don’t get me started. Dark clouds line the mountains pretending to threaten rain. Wine in a coffee thermos. Sweet fairies in tutus. Darting from door-to-door, chatting with familiar faces. Laughing. Happy screams in the distance. Candy swapping until late. Monday Halloween vs. Saturday Halloween. Talk of turkey bingo. We fall asleep late. Wake up tired. Homework not done. Candy wrappers strewn across the floor. Costumes still worn. We stay home. All of us. With blankets and pillows and forts in the living room. We make banana bread. Pajamas on. Hair uncombed. Barefoot. We decide it’s the best we’ve ever had.

Before We Get Started:

• Brown Butter. I love to brown butter and shove it in everything…sweet or savory. I explain the process in the instructions below, but my biggest tip of all is to not walk away from your pan while you’re browning butter. It will go from melted butter to burnt in the blink of an eye. So do yourself a favor and stand watch. As soon as the milk solids start turning a nice and toasty bronze, remove the pan from the heat and pour the browned butter into your electric-stand mixer (if using) or a bowl.
• Muscovado. I absolutely adore muscovado in baked goods. Muscovado is an unprocessed sugar that hasn’t had the molasses removed. It has a wet, sand-like texture and brings lots of caramel and toffee notes to everything it touches. It’s magic. And a match made in heaven with brown butter and bananas. However, I’m all about options. I tested this recipe with light and dark brown sugar and both worked great. If you want to dip your toe in the muscovado water, this is a great recipe to do so. My favorite brand is the India Tree Dark Muscovado Sugar (you can get it on Amazon). If you can’t be bothered, don’t. Ain’t no shame in your game.
• Bananas. You’ll need FIVE bananas for this recipe. We’re not kidding. It’s banana bread. I LOVE the banana on top…both from a looks + taste perspective. I love the mega banana flavor it gives to the bread. But if you only have the three bananas needed for the actually bread, skip the top and don’t sweat it. Also, you want your banana ripe and getting brown spots on the peel. But you don’t want an overly ripe banana that’s mushy and whose taste has gone off… you know what I’m talking about? The flavor goes bad if they are too ripe…don’t waste your time making bread with those bananas.
• Espresso. If you don’t have any espresso handy, go for some fresh brewed, strong coffee. Works perfect. I realize not everyone has an espresso machine. And if you don’t, you should get one. I couldn’t live without mine. Let me know if we need to talk about this more.
• White Whole Wheat Flour. I feel like this recipe is a highlight reel of all of my favorite things. I love baking with white whole wheat flour…it lends this gentle flavor and texture that can’t be matched. I have so many recipes (cookies and other fun stuff) using this flour that I highly recommend you get yourself some. I haven’t tested this recipe using other flours, so if you get frisky and mess around with the flours I hope you’ll leave notes in the comments below.
• Bread Tins. More important than the size of your bread tin, is how high you fill it with batter. Fill your tins somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 full (and not a hair more). This beauty is going to rise and you don’t want to have it spilling over…like it did during one of my tests. All over my oven. Disaster. You can make two bread loaves like I did here or during another test, I used half of the batter for muffins (and reduced the bake time for those). Because sometimes it’s fun to mix it up. …Sometimes. In terms of bread tin size, I used my Ovenex which is about 7 1/2 X 4 and another bread tin that is a touch larger.
• Chocolate. I am a card-carrying chocolate whore. If I could bathe in a pool of it nightly, I would. But, I realize some people, like my dad, would just rather I left it out of everything I bake. That’s fair. So, don’t feel tethered to the 1 1/2 cups of chocolate I throw in here. Get frisky and throw in toasted + chopped pecans or nothing at all. This is your banana bread. OWN IT.
• Put a Banana On It. The entire reason I fell down the rabbit hole of this recipes was so I could bake a loaf of banana bread with a banana on top. True story. I liked the way it looked with the cut side of the banana down best, but I’ve seen people put the cut side up. Let your conscience be your guide. ***If you are not going to eat the banana bread the same day that you bake it, you might consider skipping the pretty banana on top. It gets a touch weepy if it sits around. However, if you’re eating the bread the same day that you bake it and you want an A+ for presentation, put the banana on top.
• Inspiration. I always like to give a shout out to my inspiration for recipes… First, Deborah from @rainydaybites made the banana bread from The Hot Bread Kitchen cookbook. If you don’t have this cookbook and baking bread interests you, get it. It’s a wonderful book…and the pita recipe is life changing. They bake their banana bread for a whopping two hours. I had to try it. Second, Mary Ann from @thebeachhousekitchen paraded a banana bread made with brown butter across social media and I was dumbfounded…why had I never tried this? Lastly, one of my favorite banana bread recipes is from the first Canyon Ranch cookbook and I love it. I borrowed the espresso in the bread from their recipe. Love me some good inspo.

Let’s BAKE betches!!

Brown Butter Muscovado Banana Bread

Makes Two Loaves

INGREDIENTS

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed + 2 bananas cut lengthwise for the top of the bread
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup muscovado or brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• ¾ cup buttermilk, room temperature, shaken
• 2 tablespoons espresso or fresh-brewed, strong coffee
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup white whole-wheat flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon cloves
• ½ teaspoon all spice
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 ½ cups chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F and place a rack in the top third of your oven. Butter and flour you bread pans. If you’re feeling it, add some parchment paper to the pans (see photo) to make it easier to pull the loaves out of the pans when done.
2.  Place the butter in a small sauce pan and melt over medium heat. Once melted, crank up the heat to medium high. Stand by, stirring and watching. This isn’t the time to go and put your dry ingredients together. Small golden bits will start to settle on the bottom of the pan and it will start to smell nutty. Once this happens, take it off of the heat and pour into either your electric stand mixer (if using) or a bowl. Let it cool a minute or two.
3. Add the 3 peeled + mashed bananas, granulated sugar and muscovado to the electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (with the butter already cooled in there) and mix on medium high for about 2-3 minutes or until everthing is well blended and the banana is broken up into small bits.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together your eggs, buttermilk, espresso and vanilla and add to the banana mixture. Mix for about 1 minute on low until blended.
5. In a small bowl whisk together the all-purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, cloves, all spice + nutmeg.
6. Dump the flour mixture into the banana mixture and mix until just barely blended. Take the bowl out of the mixer, add the chocolate chips and fold until mixed in as few strokes as possible.
7. Pour the batter into your prepared bread pans and place your banana slices cut side down. Take care not to fill them more than 1/2 to 3/4s full. Bake on the top rack of the oven for 90 minutes to 2 hours or until a toothpick comes out clean. Some bits of chocolate on the toothpick are fine.
8. Let the bread cool completely before removing from the pan. If you added the parchment to the pan, you may be able to get them out sooner…because a warm slice (fresh from the oven) is sublime.
9. I hope you love this banana bread! Be sure to tag me @displacedhousewife #displacedhousewife so I can see your beautiful loaves!!

On My Mind

• I have a ton of holiday recipes ready to go, but I wanted to squeeze this banana bread in here before we head down that path. It is SO GOOD, that I didn’t want to wait to share.
• I am LOVING how many of you made the Apple Spice Cake…seriously, all the feels. Here is one beautiful photo + blog post of it. PS Stella said I need a t-shirt that says: All the Feels.
• A new campaign just started with the feedfeed + Bob’s Red Mill. Take a look here to see the first few recipes…I’ll be contributing in a couple of weeks with something realllyyyyyy exciting!!! I’ve been testing it for weeks…so save a spot on your holiday brunch table!!
• This is an interesting read on breast cancer. I find the statement: “Patients can come out the other end looking more youthful, with a better aesthetic in her breast than before,” offensive. Anyone with me?
• Bill Maher finally landed his Obama interview next Friday night. I. Can’t. Wait.
• These have been haunting me…I’m going to have to make them stat.
• More Fall Recipes: Halloween Candy Cookies, Brown Butter Pumpkin Donuts, Apple Cinnamon Muffins, Slow Cooker Spiced Apple Cider, Spiced Apple Cake, S,piced Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Cookies, Petite Pumpkin Scones, Pecan + Tart Cherry Granola, Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies (one of my favorites!), Fresh Fig + Pecan Fall Salad, Thai Thai Scones and Breakfast Crack Cookies, Maple Oat Scones, Harissa Steak Chili, Pumpkin Gnocchi and Dark Chocolate + Espresso Babka.
• Sending lots of love + peace.

–Rebecca xo