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This Brown Butter Rum Raisin Banana Bread is a sinfully delicious combination of nutty brown butter, rum soaked raisins and incredibly moist banana bread! So delicious, you won’t want the loaf to end!
You should know you have been missed! I miss my regular chats with you and sharing random Lindsey Anecdotes. I miss cooking, baking (outside of class) and bringing you my absolute favorites.
Culinary school and this move have been quite the adjustment, and I am, honestly, just trying to keep up while maintaining my sanity. (Y’all want me to be sane, right?)
I promise a more regular post schedule in the future, but to tide you over, I’m sharing this banana bread. It’s the first thing I’ve baked in my new kitchen. And it’s EPIC.
The brown butter and four bananas makes for a delightfully moist quick bread with a crispy, crunchy exterior. Each bite offers up sweet, nutty banana flavor with little bursts of extra sweetness and a hint of rum from the raisins. You know by now from my best oatmeal raisin cookies that I love a good raisin treat!
This easy recipe doesn’t require a mixer, a blender, or any other fancy contraption; just good old-fashioned elbow grease, and, honestly, it doesn’t even take much of that!
My bananas were on death’s door, but as long as they are at least spotted you will have great banana flavor that won’t be overpowered by the brown butter.
For the love of all things decadent, and for that crunchy exterior, I butter and sugar my loaf pan. Sure it adds a few extra calories, but it tastes soooo good, and, let’s be honest, this bread isn’t exactly healthy.
It’s a little trick I learned from Dorothy that makes for a extra crunchy and sweet exterior that highlights how soft and moist the bread is on the inside.
I realized 30 minutes into baking this Brown Butter Rum Raisin Banana Bread that I had no toothpicks, no bamboo skewers and, thus, no means of testing for doneness. I went by sight and, while it was fully baked, it could have used another 5-8 minutes in the oven. You, of course, will not have this problem because you are always 100% prepared.
This bread will have you buying extra bananas just so you “have to make it”. I know; I’ve been there.
Brown Butter Rum Raisin Banana Bread
Ingredients
- ½ cup raisins
- 2 tablespoons rum dark rum
- ½ cup unsalted butter cut in pieces
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt Don’t leave this out! Please.
- 4 medium very ripe, bananas
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¾ cups dark brown sugar packed
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- Extra butter and granulated sugar for the pan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- In a small bowl place raisins and rum; soak until the raisins are plump and the rum is almost completely absorbed. You can speed up this process by placing the raisin and rum in a small saucepan over low heat. If you choose to use the heating method, add an extra tablespoon of rum. You don’t want to boil them and make sure they are cool before adding to the batter!
- Coat a standard loaf pan with butter; sprinkle the pan with some granulated sugar, and tap the pan on each side to completely coat in sugar. You can also use flour instead
- In another small saucepan melt butter over medium heat and cook, swirling occasionally, until it begins to brown. Remove from heat and pour into a small bowl when it takes on a nutty aroma and little brown bits get stuck to the bottom of the pan. Make sure you scrape out all the brown bits!!! That is flavor! Allow it to cool slightly before mixing the rest of the batter.
- In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl mash the bananas with a fork until there are no large visible pieces left; add the raisins, vanilla, brown sugar, and browned butter; whisk to combine. Add the eggs and whisk until there are no visible streaks of egg and you have a homogeneous mixture.
- Add the flour mixture and fold in until just mixed. Be careful not to over mix or the bread will be tough and chewy.
- Bake in preheated oven 45-60 minutes. This time will vary greatly by oven – start checking on it after about 40 minutes. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few clinging crumbs. There should be no wet streaks .
Wow, this is delicious! I never tried brown butter before but am amazed at the difference it makes! This is so yummy. I spread half tge batter and then added slices of banana and then the rest of tge batter. It came out great!
That is a great idea, Carol! I also love when the bananas bake on top because they caramelize and take on even more complexity! You’re making me crave this again.
When do you add the brown butter?
My apologies Lizzy! It goes in the main mixing bowl with the bananas. I will update the instructions.
I was craving rum raisin something so when I saw this recipe I had to try it. It’s delicious. Mine probably could have baked longer but I took it out when the toothpick came out clean. The crunchy bottom and sides are extra yummy. Nice to have that with the moist bread. The rummy raisins work beautifully with the bananas. Thanks for sharing!!
I’m glad you enjoyed Lisa! That is odd the toothpick came out clean and it was underbaked. Just between us girls, my mom and I used to purposefully underbake ours! And then we would dig in when it was still hot in the pan lol
Please tell me what if i omit the bananas will that be ok….as i wanted just a Rum and raisin cake…
thx
Hmmm that is an excellent question, Bernie….The problem is that the bananas are adding moisture to the cake in addition to flavor. If you want to omit them and try the recipe, try adding 1/2 c whole milk instead and see how that goes. The batter should be thick. Happy baking! Make sure to let me know how it goes!
Love the smell in my house right now. A loaf in the oven. Something I noticed in the recipe though, it doesn’t say anywhere when to add the butter. I threw it into the banana mixture just before the flour but I almost missed it because my kitchen is a mess. 🙂 The bowl with melted butter was hiding a bit. Lots of baking going on. I hope I did the right thing. Love the sugar coating in the pan. 🙂
Hi Carol! I am so sorry! You are absolutely right and I forgot to type when to add the butter! It does go in with the bananas and vanilla, so you did exactly the right thing. Thank you so much for letting me know, and I have already updated the recipe with your correction. Happy baking! (Isn’t the sugar coating in the pan the best?! Just wait until it comes out and there is a sweet crunchy coating on the bread. Mmmm)
This loaf is exactly what I need this morning Lindsey! It makes me want to sink my teeth into it!
Oh my. It’s amazing!! Love that flavor combo, and the crunchy outside too!
Lindsey, I had no idea you recently moved from Atlanta to New York City to attend pastry school!!! WOW! that is sooo awesome!! I’m sure you’re overwhelmed now. . not only a new school but new city too. . I hope you are able to enjoy it! I found my love for cooking and baking later in life and if I could turn back the clock (before getting married and before kids), I would totally have gone to culinary school!!! congrats! so happy for you. . and this brown butter rum raisin banana bread. . oh my gawd. . LOVE!
Thank you so much, Alice! You nailed it- it is so overwhelming especially with the blog. Hopefully you’ll still get the chance to go – it has been life changing!