brown butter Archives

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

September 15, 2015 by Jenna

My roommate and I have found ourselves in a little situation: we have a stockpile of ripe bananas in our freezer.

Do bananas ripen much quicker in a kitchen that is approximately 7 degrees too warm? Or do they ripen much quicker in Denver than in Minneapolis? Or are we just buying bananas that are already too close to ripening?

I guess it doesn’t matter. A stockpile of ripe bananas = An abundance of banana bread.

It’s actually a pretty good situation to be in and neither of us were complaining about eating this brown butter chocolate chip banana bread.

Last week I came home from a particularly promising interview and didn’t want the good vibes to go to waste, so I dug into the ripe banana stockpile and whipped up some banana bread <— good decisions.

And decided to use brown butter and chocolate chips <— the best decisions.

I turned on some tunes, browned butter, mashed bananas, mixed the wet with the dry, threw in a handful of chocolate chips, and just kept the good vibes going. Soon the delicious aroma of banana bread was filling the house.

This is the beauty of banana bread. It is so easy to make and smells like a dream.

Plus, can we just all agree that fresh banana bread is one of the greatest things to eat ever?

I ate some, saved some for Katie, and brought the rest into Blackbird for my co-workers. That’s how I make friends… along with my charmingly awkward personality.

60% of the time it works every time.

If you don’t have a stockpile of ripe bananas in your freezer, start building! Then bake this up, make some friends, and spread the good vibes.

PS – Basic Banana Bread, Chocolate Chip Raspberry Banana Bread, Brown Butter Bourbon Blondies, and Brown Butter Pumpkin Bars

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

Few things are better than freshly baked banana bread, but add some brown butter and chocolate chips in the mix and you know you're going to have a great day.

Serves: 12 slices

Ingredients

9 tablespoons butter, unsalted
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
½ cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
1 ½ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Continue to whisk until brown specks appear at the bottom, it will froth and foam a bit. Watch closely and be careful not to burn. It should be a light brown color and have a nutty aroma. Pour butter into a medium bowl, whisk in an ice cube, and let cool for a few minutes.
Add the mashed bananas, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and milk. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
Add the flour and baking soda and stir a few times until just combined. Lumps are ok!
Fold in the chocolate chips, saving some for the top of the loaf.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips.
Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
Let the bread cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing and transferring to a cooling rack.
Slice and serve the bread warm with your favorite spread. It will keep well for a few days wrapped in plastic wrap or in the freezer for a few months.

Notes

You can use any type of milk (dairy, almond, soy, etc) and yogurt works too.

If you are baking this in altitude, make the following adjustments: add an additional tablespoon of milk and flour and take just a little bit out of the teaspoon of baking soda and ½ cup of brown sugar. Also, increase the oven temperature to 365 degrees and reduce baking time to 45-50 minutes.

I said good vibes a lot in this post. No, I’m not high, but maybe it is the altitude?

Brown Butter Bourbon Blondies

February 7, 2015 by Jenna

Brown butter bourbon blondies. This is real life. Do you love it? Brown butter, walnuts, and chocolate chips are always a good idea. You just can’t go wrong. Bourbon on the other hand… you can go wrong with bourbon. I’ve learned that lesson once or twice (or more). However, you have no need to fret in this situation. There are two tablespoons of bourbon across 16 bars. I think (and hope) you can handle that.

On the other hand if you pour yourself a glass of bourbon (or two) whilst you bake, that is a different story. You may want to be careful. Just saying.

Now I feel that I need to clarify that I was not drunk (nor was I even drinking) while baking these bars.

The mix of the brown butter, brown sugar, and bourbon give these blondies a nice caramel-y, nutty flavor. The walnuts help with the nutty flavor as well (for obvious reasons). The chocolate chips are there, because, well, chocolate. No need to explain further.

If you don’t want chocolate and nuts to get in the way of your butter and sugar you can go ahead and decrease the chocolate chip and walnut quantities from 1 cup to ½ cup. If you want to get crazy you can skip the measuring cup altogether and just throw in a handful or two of each. Do what you’re in the mood for.

I know the recipe below is 10 bullet points long, but it is so, so easy. Once the butter is browned the remaining steps take approximately 2 minutes. You just keep adding things into the butter and stirring.

Then you bake. Then you wait. Then you eat.

Brown butter bourbon blondies. If you don’t make them for your love of brown butter and bourbon, make them for your love of alliteration.

Also, share them with your friends. They will love you.

Brown Butter Bourbon Blondies

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

40 mins

Blondies are delicious, but the addition of brown butter, bourbon, walnuts, and chocolate chips make them even better. Plus, they are so simple to make!

Serves: 16 bars

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts, chopped
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 ice cube
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 cup flour
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Take two pieces of foil and place them perpendicularly in an 8x8” baking pan. Leave some overhang so that the blondies can easily be lifted out of the pan. Grease foil with butter or oil.
Spread the walnuts on a baking pan and toast in the oven for about 5-10 minutes, stirring once or twice to ensure they don’t burn. Once toasted, set aside.
To brown the butter: melt butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk the melted butter until brown specks appear at the bottom. Watch closely and be careful not to burn. It should be a light brown color and have a nutty aroma. This should take about 5 minutes. Place brown butter in a large heat-proof bowl and whisk in an ice cube.
Mix in the brown sugar until smooth.
Beat in the egg, vanilla, and whiskey.
Stir in the flour until just combined.
Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips (feel free to save about a ¼ cup of each to sprinkle on the top).
Place batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts and chocolate chips on top (if you remembered to save them) and pat down slightly.
Bake for 23-25 minutes.
Cool completely before removing bars from the pan. Then cut and enjoy!

In other exciting news, it is my little sister’s birthday today! Jaci is… so many things: beautiful, intelligent, creative, hilarious (especially when crabby), and amazing in every single way. She is one of my favorite people on the planet. We fight. We laugh. We talk/text/email/snapchat everyday. We take a lot of sister pictures. We have a lot of fun. I love her so very much.

The whole family is gathering in Sioux Falls today to celebrate Jaci’s birthday. We’re going to go to a beer festival. It’ll be funnnnnn.

I hope you have a great weekend!

PS – makes these blondies.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

November 9, 2014 by Jenna

Are you sick of pumpkin yet? I really, really hope not, because you need to make these pumpkin bars. They are so so so so so so so so sooooooo good.

Trust me.

Brown butter. Cream Cheese. Toasted Walnuts. PUMPKIN. Gaaahhhhh. You just can’t go wrong here.

My mom makes these pumpkin bars every year. They are amazing as is, but let’s just face it, brown butter makes everything better sooooo… I re-created them with brown butter. Then I threw in brown sugar and walnuts too for the heck of it. Hey, why not?! We’re gettin’ cray in the kitchen.

Speaking of cray, don’t freak out, there are five sticks of butter in this recipe. I know, I know, that’s a lot of butter; however, this recipe makes A LOT of bars, so it kind of evens out. Plus, they are just too good to not eat. YOLO. Run an extra few miles this week.

Butter is back anyways, right? It’s ok.

The bars itself are not too sweet and have the perfect amount of pumpkiny-spice flavor. They are soft, moist (sorry if you hate that word), and cakey with just a little bit of crunch from the walnuts.

Then there is the frosting. Ooohhhh, this frosting! Cream cheese frosting is always incredible, but with the addition of brown butter… incredible to the max. I kid you not.

Make these. Eat five. Save six more for yourself. Then bring the remaining to work/bake sale/Friendsgiving/Thanksgiving/wherever people accept baked goods. Since the recipe makes so many bars no one will even know that you hoarded some for yourself.

You should have them for dessert after eating this soup. Pumpkin, pumpkin everywhere.

Make sure to add in a few workouts (like this, this, or this) to sweat out some of that brown butter. Life is a balance.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Bars with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

These pumpkin bars are so good. They are super soft and have tons of flavor from the brown butter in both the bar and the cream cheese frosting. This recipe makes a lot of bars, so you'll be able to keep some for yourself and share with friends.

Ingredients

For the bars:

2 cups walnuts
1¼ cups butter (2 ½ sticks)
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
⅔ cup white sugar
29-ounce can pumpkin puree
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon cloves
¼ teaspoon all spice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

For the frosting:

1¼ cups butter (2 ½ sticks)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 350° F. Grease an 11x17-inch jelly roll pan.
To toast the nuts: spread walnuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Stir them around occasionally (every 5 minutes or so) to ensure they are not burning. Once toasted, chop roughly and set aside.
To brown the butter: melt butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk the melted butter until brown specks appear at the bottom, it will froth and foam a bit. Watch closely and be careful not to burn. It should be a light brown color and have a nutty aroma. Save one cup for the bars and one cup for the frosting.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine 1 cup of brown butter, the eggs, sugars, and pumpkin. Mix on medium until lights and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add in the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in the walnuts.
Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 27-30 minutes. Let the bars cool completely.
To make the frosting: cream together the cream cheese and butter, about 3 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Add 2 cups of the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add the remaining powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until desired consistency is reached.
When the bars have cooled completely, spread the frosting evenly over the bars. Cut into squares and serve! Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Notes

You can substitute all the spices with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.

Slightly adapted from allrecipes.com.

PS- I took a break from knitting and watching Christmas movies on Hallmark to write this. Is that bad? I might be getting too far ahead of myself.

PPS- no, I’m not 80-years old. Knitting is cool.