Caramelized Banana Loaf
The ribbons of caramalized banana you see here are made by folding in the banana mixture and not mixing with a whisk or stand mixer. I tried both ways and both are equally yum! I won't have a long blurb for this recipe as it is currently Ramadan and I am basking in a post iftar/dinner coma. All I can say is, I wanted a way to make banana bread without having to wait for ripe bananas. This is what I came up with!
You'll go bananas for these tips:
- As always... ROOM TEMP ALL OF IT :D
- Shake that buttermilk well before pouring into a cup to come to room temperature
- When sauteeing your bananas you can go as caramelized as you want. I tried it both ways once where I stirred constantly and helped it break down and once where I let it chill on the pan and the bottoms got some good color. Both worked great!
- For the topping, try to mix it well to not have the butter separate from the sugar.
Depending on your oven 40min might not be enough, if this is the case bake in increments of 5 min.
For a reel on how this was made, see here
Caramelized banana bread
Ingredients
Banana Loaf
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (316g)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup neutral oil like canola (115g)
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed (112g)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature (96g)
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk (108g)
- Caramelized banana (see below, make first!)
Carmelized Bananas
- 3 medium bananas, diced (about 260g) Does not have to be ripe!
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (62g)
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed (44g)
Crunchy Topping (optional but oh so yum)
- 1/3 cup sugar (60g)
- 2 tea cinnamon
- 2 tbs melted unsalted butter (28g)
Instructions:
- Prepare caramelized banana, in a saucepan on medium heat melting the butter and add brown sugar, whisking until mixture begins to bubble.
- Add in chopped bananas and mix with a spatula until bananas break down and become mushy about 10-13 min. You want it to resemble what you would get when mashing ripe bananas. Set aside to cool
- Preheat oven to 350F and butter or spray a loaf pan
- Sift flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda into a bowl and set aside.
- Mix sugar and oil in a separate bowl or stand mixer with paddle attachment.
- Add eggs one at a time and vanilla, mixing well.
- Add in buttermilk and flour mixture in parts, starting and ending with the buttermilk. Mix this on low until no white streaks remain
- Fold in cooled banana mixture and put into loaf pan.
- Combine all the topping ingredients in a bowl and whisk well. Add this to the top of loaf.
- Bake for 35 to 40 min or until toothpick inserted comes out clean