Brown Butter Banana Strawberry Bread
Can I tell you something about me? This has exactly nothing to do with bananas or butter or bread. Feel free to roll your eyes and skip ahead, if necessary.
I used to be a worrier. Like… a professional worrier. I would worry like it was my job to worry, like I was getting paid mad/crazy/rich person dollars to worry. I wasn’t. I was broke. That fact, in itself, made me worry.
I thought that worry would save me from every possible pain in the world. I thought worry would prepare me for bad things, disappointing things, and crazy unforeseeable things. If I worried about it… it either wouldn’t happen or I’d be prepared for it.
Well… let me tell you: worry is no preparation. It took me years.. YEARS, people…. years, to figure out that worry is just wasted energy.
Let’s be real. I still worry about things. It’s human nature. We have big brains… I’m pretty sure a small portion of them are built to worry.
I worry about earthquakes in the middle of the night when I’m wearing no bra, my ugliest possible t-shirt, and the most embarrassing pair of panties a girl has ever owned. What if there’s an earthquake, and my house falls down, and I have to retreat to my neighbors house in this hideous outfit? Those thoughts usually lead me to find a reasonable pair of pajama pants and I slip on a sports bra. See? Worrier.
But I’m changed my expectations. Instead of worry about the worst, I try to expect the best.
Seriously… what would my day look like if I expected great things instead of disastrous things? I’ll tell you… it’s looks a heck of a lot better. It feels better too. I can drink more coffee without completely spazzing out. Less worry frees me up to jump around in the world, and be silly, and thankful, and wear mint green nail polish, and write pen pal letters, and tell people I love them.
I still worry about earthquakes. Those are scary. But I also expect and welcome not just the good… but the great.
(What? Wait… I’m not talking about trashy reality television? No. I know. It’s weird.)
Do you remember when the strawberry/banana combo really hit its stride? I think it was some time in the mid 90′s… in the Snapple era, that the strawberry/banana craze really got going. I blame smoothies.
But… well, there’s something undeniably good going on here.
Let’s not fight it.
Wait. Remember the Snapple lady? That whole thing was always weird, right?
Let’s get down to the real deal. Bread.
This is banana bread. This is banana bread made exactly 17.845 times more delicious with the addition of browned butter and finely diced strawberries.
Brown butter adds depth, nuttiness, and downright deliciousness. The strawberries help this banana bread feel pretty and celebrate the season. The bread is much more banana flavored than strawberry flavored, but the bits of strawberry add sweet little surprise strawberry flavor bits. I especially love how the strawberries on top get roasted during baking. Slice them super thin so they don’t weigh down the rise of the bread or get too watery.
Sweet bread. It’s comforting, simple, and delicious. If you wanted to slather a warm slice with butter or cream cheese… we’ll, I’d consider you a friend.
I can’t cook without these shoes. It’s just a thing I have.
And in completely unrelated news… these sunglasses look uh-mazing on Alison. Major.
Brown Butter Banana Strawberry Bread
makes 1 9×5-inch loaf
inspired by The Amateur Gourmet
6 ounces unsalted butter, melted and browned to just over 1/2 cup of butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain yogurt (any fat content) or buttermilk
1 1/4 cup mashed banana (from about 3 medium bananas)
1/2 cup diced strawberries plus 1 strawberry very thinly sliced, for topping
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9×5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Butter will begin to foam and crackle as it melts. When the crackling subsides, the butter will begin to brown. Swirl the pan as the butter cooks. When the butter browns and begins to smell nutty, remove the pan from the flame and transfer the butter to a small bowl. Taking the butter out of the hot saucepan will stop the butter from overcooking and burning. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla extract, and yogurt or buttermilk. Whisk in the mashed bananas. When butter has cooled, whisk in the browned butter.
Add the wet ingredients, all at once to the dry ingredients. Fold together, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to reveal any hidden pockets of flour. Fold in the diced strawberries. Fold together ingredients, but try not to over stir.
Spoon batter into prepared pan and top with thinly sliced strawberries. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to rest in the pan for 15 minutes, before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Bread will last 4 days, well wrapped at room temperature. This loaf also freezes well.
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I still love the banana and strawberry combo. And I just made your browned butter blueberry muffins last week and now I LOVE browned butter! Definitely will be trying this bread!
I like to think of my obsession with worry as less worry and more preparedness. ;-) But, in all seriousness, there are some things that are ok to be prepared for, but others, you just have to let go. If you spend all your time worrying about what might happen you sometimes lose sight of all the good that is happening around you. Your new attitude is fab! (And so is the bread!)
You are spot on!
I wanna leave work and go home and make this! I have all the ingredients…think I know what I’ll be doing this weekend. I love your strawberry-colored shoes!
“Instead of worry about the worst, I try to expect the best.” That’s such a GREAT way to look at life. I too, am in the process of quitting my job as a professional worrier. I think it’s coded in all women to worry haha. Thanks for the tips on how you kicked the habit (and great recipe, too!)
Browned butter seriously makes everything better. Love this recipe!
I’m sure it tastes awesome, but I don’t think I can get past the fact that it looks like it’s got a scabby rash…
Seriously? Ew.
This would be a good time to practice using your Inside Your Head voice. The bread looks awesome.
I want to make this mostly because I think it looks pretty….
Scabby rash, what an imagination! I disagree, I think it looks Yum-town, but every single person is entitled to their own opinion, and this made me laugh :) You could always skip the sliced strawberries on the top… Have a nice day everyone!
Slice the berries sideways so you get those little almost heart shaped strawberry slices instead of the rash-like circles?
Wow! Thank you! I have ripe bananas already to make banana bread TODAY, and, yes, I have fresh strawberries too. I just so happened to click on your site to see what you were baking, and there was my recipe..waiting for me.
(p.s.–totally understand the worry thing. But, as you say, it can be such an energy waster. Try this: wear those old undies and ripped t-shirt to bed for a week or so..challenge that worry part of your brain, dare it, if you will. Next thing you know, you won’t be worried about being half-dressed in an emergency. You win. That particular worry loses. I do this when I need to overcome a worry—face it head on. Not always easy, but it can be very freeing. And the worries you can’t control…like worrying about your sick child or parent or friend, your attitude is dead on: keep positive, “expect the best.” Love that.)
I love this!
Oh my word does this look delicious!!
this looks AMAZING! and i’m glad that i read through the comments and found out i’m not the only chronic worrier in the world. thanks for the food and the food for thought joy :)
So when the strawberry banana thing was full throttle, I made a strawberry banana pie that was to…die…for….
Maybe I’ll have to dig that out and try it again!!
This looks delicious! I do remember the strawberry banana craze. Remember strawberry + kiwi was big too? Every cool kid on the block was carrying around a bottle of pink or green juice. Oh wait just kidding, my hometown didn’t have blocks. Every cool kid on the gravel road had it, okay?
That looks wonderful! Too bad I’m allergic to bananas and can’t even be in the room when they’re being chopped up. :( I have to miss out on this one.
Also, I worry about stuff like that too Joy. Except, being in Texas, I worry more about tornadoes in the middle of the night. Thank God for cute pj’s!
One question… how do you brown butter? Cook it til it turns brown?…..
I worry about tornadoes too…
and all kinds of things in the middle of the night. It’s insane. I choose to pray about it. That usually makes things much better.
Love you Joy!
Trying this bread for sure!
“But I also expect and welcome not just the good… but the great.”
I love this. It’s so wonderful to read something positive and uplifting, especially when there is so much negativity in the world.
Joy, what changed you from a perpetual worrier to an optimist? I think as I get older, I tend to worry more instead of less. I would love to be able to channel your optimism and expect the great in life! How do you do it?
How did you know that I have all of these ingredients in my house and was hoping to bake something without being forced to go to the store today?? You are smart. Wicked smart.
Quick question: do you have any suggestions on the best “banana mashing” techniques? like just a fork and mash it? sometimes i feel like I haven’t mashed enough.
Thanks for being awesome!
mash bananas in a medium bowl with a fork! easy easy!
You are so funny! I too worry about middle of the night natural disasters in which I will end up outside in my raggedy old tank top and no shoes! It is good to know I am not alone!!
This bread looks amazing!
This bread is so pretty. I love how you cut the strawberries all half-sy like for the top. It’s like that bread is wearing the coolest strawberry polka dotted outfit. I’m just trying to tell you that I love this bread even though I’ve never met it.
I have been on such a banana bread kick lately. My toddler loves bananas, but we always have some that get brown too fast for us. So I usually make us some banana bread. But strawberries are my favorite, so this is a perfect combo!!!
Why haven’t I ever thought of this before? Strawberries and banana bread is a perfect combo. Quoting from Veggietales…You can’t have any banana’s without stawberries (in an Englishman accent), and you can’t have any strawberries without banana’s (in a Swede accent), lol.
Hey, JTB! I have super ripe bananas just waiting to hop in this recipe! Would wheat flour work as well? (trying to prevent a run to the grocery store….)
I recently moved into a new place and my oven was on the fritz. As of yesterday, it’s finally fixed and in perfect working order! This weekend I will be making this to celebrate my new place and the oven that finally works. Thanks for the deliciousness :)
I love the Snapple lady and all things banana/strawberry. I am a total worrier and think about my house burning down every time I where my sailor shirt with the holes in it… but I assume that someone out there will have a blanket to cover me up…?
Browned butter seems to be the newest food trend. I’ve only tried experimenting with it a couple of times but I need to try more!
This looks delicious!
I love banana bread, it is the recipe that got me comfortable enough with baking to start my own experiments. I can’t wait to try this kind though I may have to slip in a little bit of bourbon into mine also a trick I learned from you… bourbon makes everything taste better.
As to the worrying I used to be a champion worrier. To the point where I was often afraid to take risks, I wouldn’t want to go out because what if I didn’t get along with the people I might meet or if I drive to this beautiful spot my car might careen off a cliff. After a long time of living in ridiculous fear of the what ifs I finally decided I needed to face my fears if I ever wanted to be able to live the life I wanted. And being me I don’t do things small… I threw a dart at a map and moved across the country to a new town where I knew no one, had no job and no place to live and than drove there by myself. I won’t say I never worry now, but I will say I trust in the good will of people after my adventures… people are kind and welcoming and caring. They help you out when you need a hand. So I say don’t worry about if they see you in your ratty sleepwear, they’ll help you out of the rubble regardless.
I just love browned butter in just about everything. I made asparagus & lemion ravioli the other night with a brown butter sauce. Last summer was brown butter ice cream which was dangerous to have around- it never lasted more than one day! I just subscribed to your blog- great read!
Best, Sandie
Oh how I know about worrying… my style was to fret the worst would happen so then in most instances I could end up pleasantly surprised. Wackyness. Anyway, I stumbled on this quote a few years ago and it really turned my thinking around (and since then it’s been a good reminder for the times when my brain takes trips to negativeland):
“Some of your hurts you have cured
And the sharpest you still have survived
But what torments of grief you endured
From the evil which never arrived.”
(Ralph Waldo Emerson)
ps: Hive-five on the bread!
Of course I’m only 15 Days away from my wedding and you post on worrying. THANK YOU! You have no idea. It’s who is going to sing what, where are all of these people going to come from and how is this just all MAGICALLY going to come together.
I shared the link to this page on my blog http://bethetomato.adventuresofnateandjen.com/?p=343
Thank you so much.
I totally love your perspective on worrying. I had have a mini-intervention with myself a few months ago and quit my habit of watching the nightly news on TV; between the pharmaceutical commercials suggesting that I was dying from every disease known to man and the actual news I couldn’t sleep at night. My worrying was epic. I kicked my news addiction and adjusted my stance on worrying and now I sleep like a lil’ baby. I totally appreciate your thoughts on worrying.
Thank you for this delish bread recipe – it looks so, so yummers!!
P.S. Totes love the shoes and sunglasses.
Joy, your incredible recipes worry the heck out of me! I worry I’ll lose control and bake everything you’ve posted! I’m really worried I’ll eat every delicious morsel! I am now begining to worry about my jeans being to tight to zip… *sigh*
Love your blog!
Patty *grin*
this is exactly how i am about worrying- i worry to prepare myself or to ensure that something won’t happen. i am so glad that i read this today- it really resonated with me. and i’m also really glad that you brought up the snapple lady because, for whatever reason, she’s been popping into my head a lot lately. that’s so weird, i know.
I think I need to bake more & worry less. I am a terrible worrier, and it drives my husband nuts. Baking bread would make him happy. Thank you!
The title of this post makes my mouth water.
The sunglasses are b’dass.
Do you think the Snapple lady, the PineSol lady and Jared have lunch occasionally and trade products?
I used to be a hardcore worrier, too, until a sunday school teacher offered up this tidy little thought: worry is only ingratitude in advance. wow! totally changed my programmed-for-worry brain. I still worry about this and that, but not nearly as much as before. you’re right: expecting good brings good. it’s a beautiful thing. (as is this bread! :) )
Sorry if I’m being dense, but how could I melt 6 Tbs of butter and expect to get over 1/2 cup of browned butter? Isn’t 1/2 cup equal to 8 Tbs of butter? Does the melting process increase the volume?
thank you for catching my typo! mucho thanks!
That bread… Omg, it looks amazing.
And I totally agree about the worry thing. Now that I have kids it’s like I worry 10x more. But honestly, I don’t worry about things I have no control over. If I can’t help it, then why worry. And if I can do something about it, then I do. Like changing out of ugly outfits in case of earthquakes because that could totally happen. Then again I worry about little things too, haha.
Must try the bread.
But even more importantly, I am a recovering worrier as well. I have worried a lot in my day, through raising three boys and living in a generally worrying world, but nothing I have actually worried about has happened. Other bad things, yes, that I somehow had managed to miss worrying about. But not the ones I did. So much wasted energy in all that unrequited worry. And it didn’t help me deal with the unexpected bad stuff that I needed to face, the cancers out of the blue to people I love or the much too early deaths or the bad medical news out of left field. So I am working on being a former worrier, day by day. Seems to be the only option. Too bad it took me 48 years of living and worrying to figure it out! Better late than never, though…
This is super pretty and looks super delicious. Looks good enough to take away any worries.
this is perfect in LA where you can get 3 pints of strawberries for $5 year round!
I can’t wait to make this.
Made something just like this last week but my sneaky addition was yogurt, no brown butter. Your version sounds reeeeaaal good! Brown butter something is going on my to-make list ASAP. Thanks Joy! P.S. I am loooving Homefries
No worries and strawberry banana bread? That sounds like a lovely combination. I like it! :D
OMG with the strawberries…love them!!
Have you been inside my head lately? It seems we are kindred worrying spirits but I too am changing my ways. This bread looks amazing and I hope to be able to convert it to gluten-free (I have my ways) so I can bake it AND eat it too.
Hmm, this looks delicious!
(and now I need to hurry because I have to take my cake out of the oven!)
Hey! I liked your post today because my most recent worry was about my husband getting a stick figure pirate tattoo on his leg (true story) for his first tattoo, his friends were getting it and he mentioned something about “brotherhood”…..anyways… I like your perspective on the whole issue or worrying and am turning over a new leaf. I will learn to love the pirate…
ps: I LOVE your DANSKOs :)
Sometimes a change of attitude can make a huge difference.
This bread looks so great!
I cook in my red(ish) clogs all the time. As a short girl, it’s hard to really chop, knead, stir in my bare feet because the counter is too high to get really good leverage.
Also, this bread looks awesome.
I am a worry-aholic— my fiance says I could come up with the most ridiculous things to be worried about that will never happen. I blame a mild case of OCD. But I’m working on it also– plus things tend to be much more fun when you relax and stop worry about what if.
Thanks for that post- I heard in your 30′s you relax more and become comfortable with who you are. I’m looking forward to that!
Great words of wisdom! I’m a worrier and I think I jinx things when I get really happy or excited about something…try dealing with that! LOL Maybe I’ll try yoga?!?.. This bread looks dee-lish by the way :0)
Last night as I was donning my pink & black zebra print flannel night gown with owls on it (yes…zebra print and campy 70′s owl cartoons, thank you Target!) I thought about being forced to flee my house in the middle of the night (fire not earthquake).Would I be interviewed on the local news, forced to shop for necessities all in my obnoxious jammies. What is it about this scenario that effects us so? Too funny. I eased my concern slightly by placing my red dansko clogs by the bed. At least I’d have practical footwear.
Tonight, I am going to bake this strawberry bread and not worry about what I wear to bed. Thanks!!