Fruit

Brown Butter and Cardamom Plantain Bread

January 20, 2020
0
0 Ratings
Photo by Meals by Mavis
  • Prep time 20 minutes
  • Cook time 55 minutes
  • Serves 10
Author Notes

Inspired by Christopher Kimball’s brown butter-cardamom banana bread, this recipe adds brown-butter and cardamom to plantain bread to produce a flavor that is complex and very delicious. —Meals by Mavis

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Ingredients
  • For the Plantain Bread
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 2 over-ripe plantains
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
  • For the Streusel Topping
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (grated)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
Directions
  1. For the Plantain Bread
  2. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C)
  3. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until the butter is deep brown (about 3 minutes)
  4. Remove the butter from the heat and whisk in the cardamom.
  5. In a mixing bowl, mash the plantains using a potato masher. Let the butter cool for a bit and then add it to the mashed plantains.
  6. Add the yogurt, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract to the plantains. Mix the ingredients together using an electric mixture until you get rid of most of the lumps in the mixture.
  7. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  8. Add the flour mixture to the plantain mixture. Use a spoon to fold the flour mixture into the plantain mixture until no dry flour remains. Do not over-mix, the mixtures should be just combined.
  9. Spray a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, making sure that it spreads evenly around the pan.
  1. For the Streusel Topping
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter. Use a pastry cutter or your fingertips to mix the ingredients into small crumbs.
  3. Sprinkle the streusel on top of the plantain batter.
  4. Place the pan in the middle rack of the oven and bake until the loaf is brown, and a toothpick inserted at the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 55 minutes.
  5. Let the loaf cool enough to be able to safely handle once it's done. Take the loaf out of the pan and put it on a wire rack. Cool the loaf completely on the wire rack before serving.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

3 Reviews

Jill W. March 3, 2021
This recipe is absolutely wonderful! A big hit, and a really great use for overripe plantains. I ground my own cardamom pods which gave it extraordinary flavor. Also, just made it again yesterday with homemade buttermilk ( just 1/2 and 1/2 and apple cider vinegar) and that actually improved the texture a bit. Thanks for this!
Meals B. March 14, 2021
I'm happy to hear that you like the recipe, Jill. I'll have to try this with your homemade buttermilk. It sounds like a great addition.
smartremark102 May 17, 2021
Hey Jill,

Could you explain how you used buttermilk in this recipe? What did you substitute it for? Your post is a bit unclear, because it says “just 1/2 and 1/2 and apple cider vinegar”. I would love if you could clarify — thank you!