To Try Tuesday - Roasted Banana Bread with Browned Butter and Toffee Topping

Sometimes I think I want to give up my blog.  I love the cooking part but I just get so frustrated with taking photos.  They just never seem to turn out the way that I would like them to.  I have these beautiful visions in my head but what I see is not what I get.  I really have no one to blame but myself.  I should learn the ins and outs of my camera, I should take a class in photography, I should read more books on food photography, I should buy some proper lighting.  Lots of "shoulds" but not enough time or finances to do so at the moment.  One day.

Anyway, back to the task at hand.  I had lots of bananas quickly ripening in the fruit basket and I wanted something new to try rather than my go-to recipe for banana bread.  I went through my trusty "To Try" list hoping to find something.  Sure enough there was a great-sounding recipe for Roasted Banana Nut Bread with Browned Butter & Toffee Topping on Karissa's site Baking For Her Soul.

The only changes I made were to omit the nuts and I did not lay the slices of banana on the sides like she did.  The roasting of the bananas brings out the sweetness and adds such a wonderful flavor to the bread.  The crunchy topping was also good, and I can imagine a few different directions to go in if you did want a different topping - a sprinkle of coconut, a cream cheese and passionfruit frosting, even something with peanut butter would be yummy.  And should the bread last long enough to be re-purposed I think it would make an awesome base for a bread pudding.

Roasted Banana Bread with Browned Butter and Toffee Topping

(Printer Friendly Recipe)

Ingredients

• 3 medium bananas
• ⅔ cup brown sugar, separated
• 4 tablespoons butter, separated
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup low-fat plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ⅓ cup toffee pieces for sprinkling on top, optional
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar for sprinkling on top, optional

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Grease and flour a 9×5 loaf pan.
3. Peel and slice the bananas into ½-inch pieces and toss them with 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon butter in a foil-lined baking dish.
4. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring once during baking, until the bananas are browned and cooked through.
5. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
6. Reduce oven heat to 350°F.
7. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl, and set aside. 
   
8. On medium heat, brown 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, swirling the pan several times for about 5 minutes until the butter has started to brown.
9. Remove from heat and add 1/3 cup brown sugar and salt.
10. Add the bananas to the browned butter and mash into mixture, until just combined.
11. Add eggs, vanilla extract, oil, and the yogurt to the butter, sugar and bananas, mix until combined.
12. Add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and mix to incorporate fully, but don’t mix past the point where it’s just combined.
13. Pour into prepared pan.
14. Sprinkle the toffee bits on top, and then sprinkled the entire top with sugar.
15. Bake at 350°F degrees on center rack for about 40-50 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean and top is browned.
16. Remove from oven and allow to cool in loaf pan for about 10-15 minutes before removing the loaf.
17. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from Baking For Her Soul.