food, recipesRachael E. Worthingtonbread, banana bread, pistachio, cardamom

Pistachio Cardamom Banana Bread

food, recipesRachael E. Worthingtonbread, banana bread, pistachio, cardamom
Pistachio Cardamom Banana Bread

Lately I’ve been really good about buying bananas — and really bad about eating them. But, this is giving me plenty of practice making banana bread!

I’ve noticed a lot of recipes focus on maple flavors, cinnamon, pecan or walnut, and while I love those flavors, I wanted to try making something a bit different. Enter, a brown butter pistachio cardamom banana bread. I love the combination of pistachio and cardamom, and thought a banana bread would be a great expression of the two.

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 Tbsp cardamom pods
2 bananas (about 1 cup mashed)
2 eggs
1/4 cup Greek yogurt (I used honey flavored)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup milk (I used almond)
1/2 cup shelled pistachios

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350°F convection and butter an 8.5” x 4.5” or 9” x 5” loaf pan.

In a small saucepan, melt your butter over medium to medium-low heat. Crush cardamom pods with the side of a knife, and add into the pan. You’ll simmer the butter until browned, swirling the pan occasionally so that it does not burn. It will foam up and begin to smell nutty. Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a glass or mug and let cool to room temperature. (If you’re impatient like me, you can put your browned cardamom butter in the freezer for about 10 minutes to cool it more quickly).

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together butter, honey, yogurt and sugar. Add in eggs one at a time, mixing between them. Mash your bananas and add into the mixture. Add baking powder, baking soda, vanilla and salt and stir to combine.

Add in half of your flour, blend, then follow with the milk, then the other half of the flour. Fold in coarsely chopped pistachios, reserving a tablespoon or two.

Pour batter into loaf pan, smoothing top with rubber spatula. Sprinkle reserved pistachios over top. Bake at 350° for 45–55 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes, then invert to remove bread from pan. Finish cooling on wire rack.

NOTE: In my image, I topped the bread with a third banana, cut lengthwise into thirds and sprinkled with brown sugar. But for this recipe, the banana slices were absorbed by the loaf, so I recommend topping with pistachios instead!

NOTE: In my image, I topped the bread with a third banana, cut lengthwise into thirds and sprinkled with brown sugar. But for this recipe, the banana slices were absorbed by the loaf, so I recommend topping with pistachios instead!