We have a lot of dark bananas. So my mid-daughter is making her loaded banana nut bread. Anything might go in it. Today she even grated carrot into it.
I personally like a dark brown banana bread. I resist the cocoa route to make it that way.
I’m wondering what instant coffee granules or instant espresso would do to it?
Anyone try that?
I would imagine, though when adding stuff you also have to consider how it modifies the taste. Brown the butter before using it? Carmelize the bananas first? Both options might make a better darkening mnner, using a natural fruit maillard reaction for the color and sweetening the sugars?
The New York Times had a cardomom coffee banana bread recipe a few months ago. It has chocolate chunks chopped into it, but you could skip those if you want to. I tried it. It was ok, but I reverted back to my standard no-frills recipe made with brown sugar and chopped pecans.
Let me know if you want the cardomom coffee recipe, though.
I’ve had espresso banana bread somewhere. I ate it with a cup of coffee, so it seemed a little pointless.
I do want the Cardomon coffee recipe. If you please.
Here you go:
Cardomom Coffee Banana Bread
Ingredients
Yield: 8 to 10 servings (One 9-inch loaf)
For the Banana Bread
For the (optional) Coffee Drizzle
Preparation
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper to form a sling that hangs over the two long sides.
In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher until mostly smooth (a few lumps are okay). Add the brown sugar, melted butter, sour cream, eggs and vanilla extract and whisk to combine.
Add the flour, espresso powder, cardamom, baking soda and salt and stir until just combined; do not overmix. Stir in the chocolate.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached, 55 to 65 minutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Meanwhile, make the coffee drizzle, if using: While the banana bread is cooling, combine espresso powder and 2 teaspoons water in a small bowl to dissolve. Add the powdered sugar and stir with a fork until smooth.
Run a knife around the sides of the bread to loosen it then grasp the parchment paper sling and lift the bread out of the pan onto a wire rack (see Tip). Peel off the parchment paper from the sides of the bread and drizzle the glaze over the top, if using (any excess will fall onto the peeled-off parchment). Let cool completely before removing the parchment paper from the bottom of the bread and slicing.
Note: I didn’t bother with the parchment sling. Use a well seasoned loaf pan sprayed with cooking oil, and it’s fine.
I find myself in @aruvqan_myers camp, brown the bananas in some barely browned butter to add flavor and color, but I don’t find coffee a good mix otherwise, though it sounds intriguing for other applications.
I actually semi-frequently make cold brew coffee with cloves, cinnamon and cardamon which I enjoy immensely. Especially if it’s decaf, because cheap-ish decaf is normally a bit flavor deficient. And cold brew is a pretty inefficient (if lovely) when it comes to grounds-to-coffee ratio, so cheap-ish is the way to go with flavored coffee!