Brown Butter Maple Pecan Banana Bread

PREP: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.

BROWN BUTTER: Heat the butter in a medium stainless steel saucepan over medium heat. Allow the butter to brown for a total of 3-7 minutes. Every now and then grab the handle and gently swirl the pan and stir often. You’ll notice it’ll start to foam but keep going. Usually, better quality butter has less water, which means it would brown quicker. Remove the saucepan from the stove when the butter smells like hazelnuts and looks light to medium brown in color. Pour into a large glass bowl and allow it to cool to room temp.

WET INGREDIENTS: Once the butter cools, add the maple syrup and whisk to combine. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well before adding the next. Add the vanilla and the mashed bananas. Stir using a rubber spatula.

COMBINE: Add the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and stir until well combined. Add ½ the flour, stir, then all the buttermilk and finally the rest of the flour. Fold until *just* mixed. A few lumps here and there are fine! Gently fold in the pecans.

BAKE: Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 55-62 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Let cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes: If you don’t have salted butter, just up the salt to 1 ¼ teaspoon in the batter.