Maple bourbon banana bread
Where do I start with banana bread? It reminds me of my dad first of all; it's super easy and only requires one bowl (and not even the bowl of an electric mixer); and it uses up bananas that seem like they've gone bad. Which they have not, trust me. They've just been waiting around, aging perfectly, to be made into (this) bread.
The original recipe from Smitten Kitchen is so fabulous, that I honestly set out to make it verbatim. But wouldn't you know, I ended up in a very different place, one that I believe even trumps her version.
Smitten called for salted butter - now for most recipes, I use unsalted because this way I can control the amount of salt in the finished dish. Many times in baked goods, salted butter can really overpower something like a delicate cake. But for banana bread, salted butter is where it's at. I do like to keep a couple sticks of the salty stuff for cases like this, but as I rummaged around in the fridge, I came up empty handed.
So that got me thinking - can't I just make my own version of salted butter? Isn't it just butter and salt? I needed to melt the butter anyway so how about I just throw some salt in there? I went into my spice cabinet and pulled out a container of salt I have been dying to use since I got it in California - Sinful Salt's "Cain and Maple". Maple/banana/bourbon sounded like a match made in heaven and I couldn't stop my gears from turning. I replaced some of the sugar in the recipe with maple syrup, threw some maple crunchies on top for a crust and the rest, as they say, is history.
Since I was adding in a bit more liquid than the original recipe called for, I upped the flour just a little bit.
A couple things I would change about my version next time around. I would definitley use 3 tablespoons of bourbon, instead of just 1. I think adding the maple syrup diluted the bourbon flavor and I wanted a hint of bourbon in the finished product. Secondly, I only had two (rather large) blackened bananas on my counter. While the bread was certainly banana-y enough, if I had 3 or 4, I would definitely not hesitate to throw those in the mix.
Maple bourbon banana bread
Inspired from Smitten Kitchen
Time: 1.5 hours until you can eat it (20 minutes prep, about 55 minutes baking, 10 to cool)
Level: Easy
Ingredients
1/3 cup melted unsalted butter; plus a little more to butter the loaf pan
1/2 teaspoon maple salt (or any salt you have)
2 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-3 (USE 3!!) tablespoons bourbon
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
Several grates of fresh nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt (I used the Cain and Maple salt, but any salt you have will do)
1.75 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon or so of maple crunchies (this is just maple sugar made into little bits; if you don't have these around, you can either omit, or top with 1 tablespoon turbinado or other type of raw cane sugar)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a loaf pan and set aside. The original recipe said to use a 4x8 pan; mine was 5x9 and it worked just fine.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Once melted, add in the salt and whisk to combine (alternatively, just melt up some salted butter).
In a large mixing bowl, mash up the bananas with a fork. Add the melted butter to the bowl and mix together.
In a small bowl, beat an egg (ok, I lied, there is another bowl involved).
Add the sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, bourbon, and egg into the large bowl and mix everything together. Then add in the spices.
Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the batter and stir to mix.
Add in the flour and mix together.
Pour your batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth it out either with the wooden spoon or by banging the pan onto the counter. Top with maple crunchies, if using.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a tester in the middle of the bread comes out clean. This took 56 minutes in my oven. Remember to rotate the pan halfway through (do this around 25 minutes).
Cool at least 10 minutes on a rack; then run a knife around the edges of the pan, pop the bread out, and slice to serve.
Mangia!