Brown Butter Banana Bread Recipe with Vanilla Butter [Giveaway] (2024)

18 Oct 23, 2015 Baking| Jump to Recipe

I’m not sure why I’ve waited so long to post a banana bread recipe on Kitchen Konfidence. Jorge and I love banana bread and we make it aaaaallllll the time.

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I recently discovered a new banana bread recipe in Bobby Flay’s latest cookbook, Brunch @ Bobby’s, and it’s outstanding. Crackly on the outside and moist on the inside, this brown-butter spiked bread is flavored with ripe bananas, honey, cinnamon and chopped smokey pecans. The ingredient list and preparation are so simple, but the finished bread is wonderfully complex and flavorful. It’s impossible to eat just one slice.

This banana bread is perfectly fine as is, but I decided to take it over-the-top with a rich, homemade Vanilla Butter (recipe also from the book). This slightly-sweet spread is made with soft butter, vanilla seeds, salt and sugar. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or dessert! Continue reading for the recipes plus a cookbook/gift card giveaway AND a valuable tip to ripen bananas quickly.

First, the giveaway. The kind folks over at Clarkson Potter provided me with a copy of Brunch @Bobby’s AND a $100 Visa Gift Card to give away to one lucky Kitchen Konfidence reader!! I watch Brunch @ Bobby’s each week, and I always love to see all the inventive recipes and co*cktails that he comes up with. This book has 140 (some from the show) all dedicated to one of the best meals all week long: brunch! Here’s how you can enter to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway open to US addresses only.

Brown Butter Banana Bread with Vanilla Butter

by Brandon Matzek

Slightly adapted from Brunch @ Bobby's.

4.94 from 15 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

For the Banana Bread:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnmaon
4 medium overly ripe bananas (skins should be black), peeled (see tip above on how to quickly ripen bananas)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup chopped toasted pecans
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

For the Vanilla Bean Butter:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon sugar
1 vanilla bean split lengthwise and seeds scraped
Pinch of fine grain sea salt

Instructions

Preheat an oven to 350°F, and set an oven rack to the middle position. Butter and lightly flour a 9-inch loaf pan.
Cook butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter turns a deep golden brown color (about 5 minutes). Set aside to cool slightly.
Add flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to a small bowl, whisking to combine. Set aside. Mash bananas using a fork in a medium bowl until smooth. Add sugar, browned butter, honey and egg to the bowl with the banana, whisking to combine. Add the flour mixture, then stir until just combined. Do not overmix here. Fold in the pecans.
Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and sprinkle the top evenly with turbinado sugar. Bake on the middle rack until an inserted toothpick comes out clean (40 to 50 minutes). Let cool on a baking rack in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove from the pan and let cool on the rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
While the banana bread is cooling, make the Vanilla Butter. Stir together the butter, sugar, vanilla seeds (use the leftover pods for Vanilla Sugar), and salt in a small bowl until combined. Let flavors meld for a little bit before using (I waited 45 minutes). Store any leftover Vanilla Butter in the refrigerator, and let soften before using again.

Tried this recipe?Tag @brandiego on Instagram so I can check it out!

Prizing and samples provided by Clarkson Potter. All thoughts, opinions and recipes are my own. I watch Brunch @ Bobby’s each week, so I am more than happy to spread the news about his new book!

Here are some other brunch recipes on Kitchen Konfidence:

Savory Waffles with Rosemary, Ham and Dubliner Cheese

Roasted Garlic Bloody Mary

Easy Homemade Hollandaise

Orange Cardamom Scones

Fluffy Cardamom Pancakes

Yeasted Pumpkin Waffles

Brandon

I’m Brandon: food explorer, recipe curator, co*cktail shaker, dessert lover. Kitchen Konfidence is how I document my time spent in my favorite space, the kitchen. Did you make a recipe? Tag @brandiego on Instagram so I can see the how it went!