Brown Butter, Rum, Cinnamon Whiskey, Banana Bread

Brown Butter, Rum, Cinnamon Whiskey, Banana Bread with the Boozy Glaze

The past few weeks have been insanely busy for a break (from school). I’ve had the house to myself for much of it, so I’ve been working on household projects (one of which is my magnetic spice jars; look for the post in the near future), cleaning, and doing some cooking and baking as I could (including some homemade infused spirits). I meant to post several blog posts these past few weeks, but something always seemed to come up. Now that I no longer have the house to myself, and am about to start my spring semester, I should be able to get back on track and post more frequently. Expect a post dump over the next few days, and I will try not to disappear for this long again if I can help it.

I don’t know about you, but I have a bit of a love – hate relationship with banana bread. I enjoy it, but the overwhelming flavor of bananas (especially overly ripe bananas) becomes tiring quickly. Banana bread, though, is a quick way to get rid of overly ripe bananas, so I continue to make it when the opportunity arises. I cycle through banana bread recipes, and, until now, had not found my “go to” recipe for banana bread.

A little after Christmas I found myself with 5 extremely ripe bananas and in search of a new recipe. I was browsing Pinterest when I came across a recipe by 365 Days of Baking. I was intrigued when I saw that she used rum and brown butter in her recipe, and I decided to Up the Ante and doctor it up a bit. I used some spiced rum, as well as some Fireball whiskey in my version. Despite doubling the original recipe’s amount of alcohol, the bread did not turn out soggy, and was still quite moist (On my second batch I added a bit more alcohol and only had to tighten the batter up with a sprinkle of flour and sugar). This recipe is pretty forgiving, so feel free to tweak it to your taste.

I will admit that the batter for this banana bread, to me, is more addictive than cookie dough (I’ll blame the cinnamon for that *wink*). I was lucky that no one was home when I made this bread or else they would have thought I was strange by sitting in the living room with the bowl and scrapper, while the bread was baking, acting like a kid enjoying the bit of leftover batter and watching a show on Netflix. I’ve already made this bread twice, and will probably be making it again this weekend. (Yes, the batter is that addictive, and the bread is that yummy.)

The bread tastes best after resting in plastic wrap overnight. The flavors come together, and the cinnamon really starts to shine then. If you want to spice things up further, drizzle some of the boozy glaze on top for added sweetness and kick.

I hope you enjoy the banana bread as much as the people in my life and I did. Do you have a “go to” bread recipe of some type, or do you find yourself cycling through new recipes like I do? Let me know in the comments.

Brown Butter, Rum, Cinnamon Whiskey, Banana Bread
 Makes 1 Loaf

Ingredients:

• 5 mashed bananas (~1 ½ cups)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
•  ½ tsp. baking soda
• 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup spiced rum
• 1/3 cup Fireball whiskey

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Spray a 9 X 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray or grease it with butter.
3. In a large bowl, mash bananas (if you haven’t already), and mix in the eggs.
4. Add the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon, combining everything together thoroughly, and then set aside for the moment. (Don’t worry if it seems a bit thick and/or lumpy, the butter/alcohol mixture will help once added.)
5. In a pan over medium heat, melt the butter.
6. Continue to cook on low-medium heat while stirring constantly.
7. Remove from heat and add the rum and whiskey when you see golden bits (to slightly amber bits) of butter in the bottom of the pan (approximately 5-7 minutes).
   (*I added the alcohol once the butter melted in the first batch, cooking them together, and it was not as clear when the mixture was done. You can keep the mixture on low and constantly stir it once the alcohol has been added for 30 seconds to a minute to burn off the alcohol if you’d like. You will know that the alcohol has burned off when you see the mixture foam. The mixture will continue to cook slightly once removed, so you don't want it to become too dark while it’s still on the stove. If it seems to be cooking too fast, lower the heat.)
8. Add the butter / rum /whiskey mixture to the batter and thoroughly incorporate.
9. Bake for 55 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
   (*If the bread begins to darken too much, cover the loaf with some tin foil in the last 15 minutes of baking.)
10. Remove the loaf from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes or so.
11. Remove the bread from pan and allow it to cool completely on the rack.
12. Once cooled, wrap the loaf in plastic wrap and rest overnight (for the best flavor).
13. And enjoy!

Boozy Glaze

 
Ingredients:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1-1 ½ Tbsp. spiced rum
• 1-1 ½ Tbsp. Fireball whiskey

 
Instructions:

1. Mix alcohol with powdered sugar until it reaches desired consistency. 
2. Drizzle over the banana bread as desired.
3. Store glaze in an air tight container (may need to be mixed before next use).

Please remember to share the recipe and Pin It for later. The official Upping the Ante Facebook page often has more behind-the-scenes posts. Like and follow the Upping the the Ante Official Facebook page.


~Sarah aka Twisted