Earl Grey and Cardamom Banana Bread

A floral spin on the classic banana bread. This thick, moist banana bread is filled with bright citrus zest, herbal earl grey tea, and cardamom.

Well, it’s winter. As I’m writing this, my weather app is telling me that it is currently 3° F outside and tomorrow the high is 0° F. ZERO. I’m still working on wrapping my little Florida head around this whole sub-zero winter weather. I’ve discovered that as long as you bundle up really well and spend most of the time indoors, it’s not terrible. I also have found that I love the sparkly blanket of snow that covers the ground and even the big flakes that fall from the sky every few days. And I’ve also discovered that a thick, warm loaf of banana bread makes it a lot better.

I’m always looking for ways to slightly fancy up the classic banana bread. I want to add subtle flavors that will add depth and interest, without completely changing the tried and true banana bread that I know and love. This little flavor riff is a real winner. I know this because normally, when I play with banana bread, Martin’s response is always that “it’s good” and he “really likes it” but he still “just prefers the regular banana bread”. But not with this one! I made it a couple of times, tweaking the recipe slightly each time, until on this current iteration, Martin decided that it was his “favorite banana bread I’ve ever made”. So there you go. It’s a raging success.

how to make earl grey and cardamom banana bread

This is my basic banana bread recipe, because if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

We start by creaming butter with sugar and brown sugar, but this time, we’re also adding a smattering of orange zest, a fair amount of ground cardamom, and dried earl grey tea. (Just buy a box of earl grey and slice open the tea bags to get loose ground tea). We’re going to add all of these flavor components in this first step because creaming any sort of flavor additive (like zest, or extract) allows for the oils in them to coat the fat in the butter resulting in a more assertive and evenly-distributed flavor.

When the butters, sugars, and aromatics are thick and creamy, we’ll add mashed, ripe bananas, egg yolks, vanilla, and sour cream (or yogurt) for extra moisture. Then we add our dry ingredients—flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until we have a thick, smooth batter.

Finally, we whip our egg whites. Whipping egg whites and then folding them gently into the batter will create more rise and leavening in our bread.

A little science lesson:

Rise in baked goods comes from three different sources: air, steam, and chemical leaveners (like baking powder and soda). In this recipe, we use both chemical leaveners, but the baking soda’s main job is to react with and balance the acidic ingredients in the recipe (bananas and sour cream). The baking powder is there to actually help the bread rise. By creaming the butter, we are incorporating air into the batter and coating each of the sugar granules in fat, suspending them in the batter. Then, when the bread is baking and the sugar begins to dissolve, there will be steam released that will also aid in rising. So by folding in whipped egg whites, we are adding yet another layer of leavening (air and steam) which will leave us with a final product that is both hefty and dense (like the banana breads we know and love), but also a light with a finer crumb.

After folding in the egg whites, we transfer the batter to a loaf pan, sprinkle on a layer of crunchy demerara sugar and bake it off. Cooling the banana bread completely in the pan will help form that sticky top layer, which is the very best part in my opinion. Smear thick slices with Kerrygold butter and a little sprinkle of Maldon, curl up on your couch, and embrace all of the coziness you can in this frigid winter season.

Browned Butter and Cardamom Zucchini Bread

Looking for ways to use up your summer zucchini? This quick and easy, ultra-moist zucchini bread recipe is for you! A simple recipe for the best zucchini bread, filled with warming spices, browned butter, and topped with mascarpone whipped cream.

Is there anything that screams late summer more than zucchini bread? If you’re anything like me, by the time school is starting, you are finding yourself with a bounty of zucchini and squash, while simultaneously running out of any new ideas as to what to do with it. (Although, I recently stumbled upon a recipe for zucchini butter from Andrea Bemis’ new cookbook that I am looking forward to trying out).

One of you actually requested a zucchini bread recipe earlier this summer and my wheels have been turning for the last few months. This really beautiful zucchini bread is a compilation of a traditional, no frills style quick bread and a much-more extravagant zucchini cake we made the first week of culinary school. The result is a dense, moist loaf cake, stuffed with shredded summer zucchini, nutty browned butter and warming spices, topped with a light mascarpone whipped cream.

how to make zucchini bread

Zucchini bread, like pumpkin and banana bread, falls into the quick bread category of baked goods. I assume we call them ‘breads’ because they are often baked loaf-style, but really, let’s not kid ourselves, they are cakes. Easy, simple cakes! Quick breads are often known for their density (think of those thick, hefty slices of banana bread in coffee shop displays), which can be attributed to a liquid fat, like oil or melted butter.

Pretty much all quick breads follow the same technique: mix together your wet ingredients, mix together your dry ingredients, add dry to the wet and stir to combine. It’s so simple. No creaming butter or whipping egg whites. You don’t need a mixer or any fancy equipment. Quick breads are low maintenance and high-reward.

For this recipe, we follow that same formula, using browned butter as our liquid fat. The slightly cooled butter is whisked with tahini, eggs, orange zest, sugar, and vanilla before the shredded zucchini gets folded in. Then dry ingredients (flour, leavening agents, and spices) are folded in and the whole thing is baked and it’s a work of art.

Quick tip for you: If you are frosting the bread, wait until it is COMPLETELY cooled. (I tried to rush this little photoshoot and learned my lesson on this one.) If you want to enjoy your zucchini bread slightly warm, skip the whipped cream and just plop a pat of butter or a swoop of mascarpone on a slice. It will be just as perfect and far less melty.

ideas for zucchini bread variation:

You know that I’m all about making your baking your own so here are some ideas for flavor variation that you can play around with!

• Lime + Coconut Zucchini Bread: Sub the orange zest for lime zest and use melted coconut oil in place of the browned butter. Fold some shredded coconut into the batter and sprinkle some on top before baking.

• Lemon + Ginger Zucchini Bread: Sub the orange zest for lemon zest and add grated fresh ginger to the batter. Replace the browned butter with a good, fruity olive oil.

• Chocolate + Peanut Butter Zucchini Bread: Replace the tahini with peanut butter and add chocolate chips!

Yield: one 9x5" loaf

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Browned Butter and Cardamom Zucchini Bread

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 20 M

A simple recipe for the best zucchini bread, filled with warming spices, browned butter, and topped with mascarpone whipped cream.

Ingredients

for the zucchini bread

• 14 oz shredded zucchini (from 2 medium zucchinis)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, browned and cooled slightly
• 3 tbsp (50 g) smooth tahini
• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (106 g) brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cup (210 g) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (50 g) spelt flour

for the mascarpone whipped cream

• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Instructions

to make the zucchini bread

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a 9x5” loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Place butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally for 6-7 minutes, until butter is foamy and fragrant and little brown flecks are scattered throughout. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
3. Grate zucchini and place in a bowl. Set aside.
4. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, spelt flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg.
5. In a large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, and orange zest. Use your fingers to rub the orange zest into the sugars until fragrant.
6. Add the tahini, vanilla extract, and cooled brown butter to the sugars. Whisk until smooth.
7. Add the eggs and continue to whisk until the batter is homogenized.
8. Add the zucchini to the liquid batter and fold in using a rubber spatula. Add the dry ingredients in two additions, folding gently just until everything is combined and no pockets of flour remain.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, until cake is deeply golden and a knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out cleanly. Let cool in the pan.

to make the mascarpone whipped cream

1. Place mascarpone cheese and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or standing mixer for about 2 minutes, until well combined and mascarpone is fluffy.
2. Add the heavy cream and continue to whip for 3-4 minutes, until mixture reaches soft peaks. Spoon over cooled zucchini bread.

Notes:

Some recipes call for squeezing the liquid out of the zucchini. For this recipe, we are going to skip that step and use some of that moisture in the bread itself. I do like to let the zucchini sit shredded in a bowl for about 10 minutes, while I prep the rest of the ingredients, and then use a fork to transfer the zucchini to the batter. If there is any residual liquid pooling at the bottom of the bowl after removing the zucchini, trash that and don’t add it to the batter. 

The mascarpone whipped cream is a nice complement to the bread if you are serving it right away, but if you are making this to eat on for the week, I'd recommend skipping the whipped cream (it won't hold very well). The bread is still delicious on it's own!

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