Brown Butter Banana Bread

If you come across some enfeebled, spotty bananas, but you don't have time to throw down a quickbread then and there it's simple enough to toss them into a freezer. But always, always peel them first.

I haven't made banana bread in a while in part because the last time I did, I tried to use bananas that had been frozen in their skins. I made a valiant effort at separating the stringy black mess from the pale yellow mess, but in the end the whole thing smelled (and tasted) sadly of rot.

Happily, today was unlike that day.

Brown Butter Banana Bread
adapted from Simply Recipes

4 ripe bananas
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a saucepan or skillet. Once everything is liquid, reduce the heat and begin to stir, gently at first, and then with an increasing sense of urgency. The butter will lighten, and then darken, turning a nutty brown color.

Once it's brown, pour the butter out of the pan into a small bowl where it can cool until needed.

Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl. Add the warm (but not hot) brown butter. Mix in sugar, vanilla and flax. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt on of the mixture and stir a few times. Add the flour, stirring just until incorporated.

Pour the thick batter into a baking pan (this will do a short bundt, 9 inch round, or a 4 x 8 inch loaf pan) and bake for about an hour. The cake is done when a knife inserted in the center pulls out clean.