Ever since I took a trip to Egypt I have been obsessed with finding new ways to incorporate more cardamom into my life. So when the idea popped into my head to give the gold standard of banana bread recipes from America’s Test Kitchen an orange cardamom makeover, I knew I had to give it a try.
If you’ve never made America’s Test Kitchen ultimate banana bread recipe, I will warn you that it’s a bit more involved than your basic banana bread.
And this orange cardamom banana bread recipe ups the ante even more by combining brown butter, whole boiled citrus, and a generous dose of ground cardamom and other spices for a deeply aromatic twist on classic banana bread.
So buckle up friends, because all those dirty dishes and extra steps are about to gift you the best banana bread you’ve ever had in your life… well as long as you like oranges and cardamom that is…
Why You’ll Love This Banana Bread Recipe Too
- Tons of classic banana flavor
- Bright pops of citrus to keep it from tasting too heavy
- Browned butter and a warm spice medley make it taste cozy and luxurious
- Not overly sweet
- Soft, incredibly moist and tender crumb
- A crunchy sugar crust (honestly this may be the best part)
Orange Cardamom Brown Butter Banana Bread Ingredients
This ingredient list may look long, but most of these are pantry staples you likely already have lying around.
- 4 large, very ripe bananas, peeled and roughly chopped
- 5 clementine oranges
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1¾ cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1-2 tbsp turbinado sugar (for topping)
How To Make Orange Cardamom Brown Butter Banana Bread
I’ve wanted to try baking with boiled whole citrus fruit, rind and all since I first heard about clementine cake.
This orange banana bread recipe runs with that idea and combines it with America’s Test Kitchen’s ultimate banana bread recipe along with a good dose of cardamom and warm spices to make it extra rich and indulgent. And at that point, we might as well brown the butter while we’re at it right? Right.
COOK TIME: 1 hour
PREP TIME: 55 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 55 minutes
YIELD: 1 8×4 Loaf
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat an 8×4 loaf pan with the cooking spray of your choice.
- Zest three of your clementine oranges and then combine the zest with the brown sugar in a small bowl. Stir until fully combined and then let that mixture rest for a while.
- Fill a medium pot with water and bring it to a boil. Place the remaining two non-zested clementine oranges into the water and boil them whole for at least 40 minutes.
- Place your butter into a small saucepan and gently brown it over low heat. Remove from heat once browned and pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl to let cool.
- Peel 4 bananas and place them in a microwave-safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap, then cut a few slits for air vents and cook in the microwave for 4-5 minutes on high.
- If you do not own a microwave (because I don’t), you can cook the bananas, double boiler style, over your pot of boiling clementines. Simply place a metal bowl on top of your boiling pot, fill it with your bananas and cover the bowl with a tight fitting lid. The bananas will take a bit longer to cook but you have to wait for the clementines to finish up anyway.
- If you are using frozen bananas, you can skip this step entirely.
- Remove the bowl from the microwave and pour the steamed bananas into a strainer placed over a bowl. You want to capture all the banana liquid that drains out. Let it sit, stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes until you have about ½ a cup of liquid.
- Transfer the banana liquid into a small saucepan along with the juice of one of your zested clementine oranges.
- To cut down on dishes I used the same sauce pan I browned my butter in.
- Boil your banana/orange juice liquid until it has reduced by about half.
- Place your two boiled clementines into the large bowl with your browned butter and purée them with an immersion blender. (Yes skin, pith, rind and all. You’re just going to blend them up as they are.)
- If you don’t own an immersion blender you can also pop them into a standard blender to purée them as well and then pour the puréed mixture into your large bowl.
- Add the cooked bananas to the puréed clementines along with the banana/orange liquid reduction and mash with a potato masher until mostly smooth.
- Whisk in the brown sugar clementine zest mixture, two eggs, and vanilla extract.
- In a separate small bowl whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves together until well combined.
- Gradually add the flour mixture to the banana mixture until just combined.
- Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan.
- Generously sprinkle the top of the batter with turbinado sugar. (It’s about 1-2 tablespoons but I usually measure this with my heart)
- Place in the oven and bake for 55-75 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes.
- Remove your loaf from the pan and continue to cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
I can’t even express how good this smells while it’s baking.
It took me a bit of experimentation to get the orange flavor where I wanted it, but I’m SO HAPPY with how this orange cardamom brown butter banana bread recipe turned out!
And no, the pureed clementine oranges don’t make the bread taste bitter at all! Boiling the citrus like we did really helps reduce those bitter notes you might get otherwise.
Do you have a favorite banana bread recipe? Let me know what your go-to is in the comments below because I’d love to try it! And let me know if you try this one! I’m off to make another one because the first loaf has already been devoured by my husband….
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