This Almond Croissant Banana Bread, much like these almond croissant cookies, was once again the product of me being easily influenced. As in… I saw someone post about it on the internet and decided to pull together a recipe. I went with a brown butter banana bread and used the same filling as the cookies, and am realizing that this process is very easy. Will this almond-croissant-ification of every possible baked good continue unchecked? Who’s to say. Probably though.
I will say, it didn’t turn out as much almond-croissant-y as like… a banana bread stollen. A lovely banana bread with pockets of marzipan and a baked almond crust. So, I’m certainly not complaining, but it is worth pointing out. The almond-croissant-ification may be a stollen-ification for some baked goods. But I suppose the only way to confirm that hypothesis is to keep trying it out on different things.
Once you commit to it, are there any bounds? Cookies… banana bread… Maybe scones next? Pancakes? Brownies? Ice cream? A cake? A sweet bread? How long until we just come full circle back to croissants again??
I will say, buying bananas as a single person is unnecessarily difficult. They ripen and go bad so quickly, so you can only really buy 1-2 at a time. So you can break off the number you need from a bunch, but breaking off bananas from the bunch in the store can be hazardous if you mess up, and then you may feel guilty for leaving stray bananas unattached to their bunch, or making too small a bunch. So I ended up buying 6 bananas. And I ended up making this bread, as well as some muffins to bring in to my class. All this to say… stay tuned for more banana baked goods soon.
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PinIngredients
For the almond filling:
2 cups almond flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp almond extract
For the banana bread:
6 ounces unsalted butter, melted and browned to just over 1/2 cup of butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup yogurt
1 1/4 cup mashed banana (from about 3 medium bananas)
Slivered almonds
Instructions
Make the almond filling: In a medium bowl, whisk the egg. Using a spatula, mix in the almond flour, sugar, almond extract, and butter. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Make the banana bread: Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9×5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Butter will begin to foam and crackle as it melts. When the crackling subsides, the butter will begin to brown. Swirl the pan as the butter cooks. When the butter browns and begins to smell nutty, remove the pan from the flame and transfer the butter to a small bowl. Taking the butter out of the hot saucepan will stop the butter from overcooking and burning. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla extract, and yogurt. Whisk in the mashed bananas. When butter has cooled, whisk in the browned butter.
Add the wet ingredients, all at once to the dry ingredients. Fold together, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to reveal any hidden pockets of flour. Fold together ingredients, but try not to over stir.
Spoon ½ of the batter into the prepared pan. Spread ½ of the almond filling. Then spoon the rest of the batter and spread evenly. Then layer the last of the almond filling on top. Garnish with slivered almonds. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to rest in the pan for 15 minutes, dust with powdered sugar, and let cool completely.
Bread will last 4 days, well wrapped at room temperature. This loaf also freezes well