Roasted Brown Butter Banana Bread

Things I’m loving lately:

1. Friday Night Lights. By day 3 of being sick on the couch last week, I was so bored I decided the only remedy was to start watching a new show on Netflix. I’d heard really good things about Friday Night Lights from some other bloggers, and it also stars Connie Britton who I’m loving in Nashville right now so I gave the first episode a shot. Four days later and I’d finished the entire 22-episode first season. Yep, you could say I’m a fan 🙂 I love football, but the show is about so much more than that, and I was drawn in immediately. I haven’t started season 2 yet, but only because I fear what it’ll do to my productivity…

2. Hockey is back! Well, soon anyway. This fall just wasn’t the same without my boys in black and gold. And as much as I’m enjoying watching the Patriots in the playoffs, football will be over in a few short weeks and without hockey, it was going to be a very long winter.

3. Comfort food. It’s winter – enough said, right? We’ve been all about soups and stews, meatloaf, mac & cheese and other simple pasta dishes. But we can’t forget about dessert!

For me, banana bread is one of the ultimate comfort food desserts. It’s right up there with chocolate chip cookies. There are a million banana bread recipes out there, and a lot of them are fantastic, but there are a few things that make this one extra special. First, the bananas are roasted which really concentrates their flavor. The butter in the recipe is also browned before being added, and I think we can all agree that everything is better with brown butter! I love the combination of peanut butter and banana so I threw in peanut butter chips as well, but you could use chocolate chips or nuts if you’d rather. This one is a keeper for sure!

Hope you all have a great weekend 🙂

Roasted Brown Butter Banana Bread
adapted from Bella Baker

{Note: choose yellow bananas for this recipe – you don’t want to use bananas with dark peels like you normally would for banana bread.}

3 medium bananas
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Place the bananas (in their peels) on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for about 15 minutes, or until the peels have blackened and the fruit begins to seep out. Remove the baking sheet to a wire rack and allow the bananas to cool completely. (Maintain the oven temperature.)

Meanwhile, add the butter to a large skillet set over low heat. The butter will melt then begin to bubble and foam. Eventually it will start to turn brown and smell nutty – be patient and watch carefully, it can go from brown to burned quickly. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the butter into a heatproof bowl. Allow to cool slightly.

Whisk the cake flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the sugar to the bowl with the cooled butter and whisk to combine. Stir in the milk and vanilla extract until incorporated. Remove the cooled roasted bananas from their peels and mash them, then add to the butter/sugar mixture in the bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl in two additions, stirring just until combined. Fold in the peanut butter chips.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and allow the bread to cool for 15 minutes before turning it out to cool completely.