I'd been meaning to try Claire Saffitz's recipe for Almond Butter Banana Bread from Dessert Person for a while, and finally got around to it yesterday afternoon. It was a decent enough distraction from some horrible tinnitus so for that it earns 5 stars. But honestly, it gets high reviews for other reasons, and I wish I'd tried it sooner. It's an interesting twist on regular banana bread and I love the almond butter swirl on top!
Jump to RecipeDessert Person
First, a plug for the cookbook, Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz. I did not receive a free copy, this is just me calling out great books which I want to do more often. I am not one to follow recipes by the letter and read cookbooks mainly for the personality of the author and ideas. Claire's a good writer and her recipes work. The book includes weights, so if you're kind of new to using a scale and looking for books where the authors measure with volume and a scale, check this one out. I'll write more about the book after I try more recipes.
Flavor and Texture Notes
But on to this recipe. The Almond Butter Banana Bread reminds me of the Cream Cheese Swirl Banana Bread, but with an almond butter swirl instead of cream cheese. But they're both completely different recipes. This one has a lot less sugar than the other and is less dense and sweet. Both are good for different reasons. The almond butter bread is definitely prettier when sliced.
My overall thoughts on the flavor and texture are basically that it doesn't taste a whole lot like almond butter (except for the swirl part) and the texture is super moist. If you like banana bread and almond butter, you will like this. Neither of the flavors compete. I barely tasted the cardamom at all, so if you are a cardamom lover you could add a little more.
Ingredients for Almond Butter Banana Bread
Here are the ingredients which I laid out, including the leavening agents plus salt and cardamom displayed oddly but in a way that made sense yesterday afternoon. I hope this is helpful for someone.
- Almond Butter
- Sugar
- Coconut Oil
- Eggs
- Yogurt
- Bananas
- Flour
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cardamom
See recipe card for quantities. Also, in Dessert Person Claire Saffitz mentions adding chopped almonds. I left them out and think I would do so in the future. The bread is so soft the almonds might seem out of place. Then again, she probably wouldn't have recommended them if they were. But it was fine without.
Instructions
Here's a rundown on the basic steps. If you've made banana bread before, you might recognize a few things. The almond butter swirl is the unique selling point.
- Grease a loaf pan and line with a strip of parchment paper. I like to grease pans with a silicone pastry brush and coconut oil.
- Mix together 3 tablespoons of almond butter, 1 teaspoon of coconut oil and 1 tablespoon of sugar to make the swirl.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, almond butter, coconut oil and yogurt. Stir in the bananas.
- Separately, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cardamom. Stir into batter.
- Pour into pan. Drop dollops of swirl mixture on top and drag a knife through.
- Bake for 60 to 70 minutes and let cool for about 30 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan. Let cool completely.
Note: You can always leave off the parchment paper if you need to. I use it for extra insurance, but this bread should come out of the pan just fine with grease and flour only. If you use parchment, you can skip the flour.
Substitutions
Banana bread is almost always open to subtitutions. It may not be exactly the same, but it will still be good. As you know. As we all know.
- Almond butter substitute -- I didn't have quite enough almond butter for the batter, so I incorporated some Kirkland mixed nut butter. It worked well. Tahini and peanut butter have been mentioned on the Dessert Person Reddit thread.
- Yogurt substitute - Instead of yogurt you can use about 4 tablespoons of sour cream diluted with a tablespoon and a half of milk.
- Coconut Oil -- I used refined coconut oil. For a coconut flavor, you could used refined. I'm guessing any neutral oil would work here
- Flour -- A gluten-free blend at a 1:1 weight should work
- Sugar -- You could try a sugar substitute in this bread since there's only ⅔ cup This Magic Baker is pretty good and doesn't contain sucralose.
Equipment
For the loaf pan, be sure to use one that's 8 ½ by 4 ½ inches rather than 9x5 so that the loaf will be tall rather than wide. But for the most part, you don't need any special equipment for Almond Butter Banana Bread. Everything is just stirred together in bowls. This is another plus for Dessert Person. The recipes don't involve a lot of equipment.
Storage
Store the banana bread at room temperature for a day or in the refrigerator for up to two days. For long term storage, cut into slices, wrap slices individually and freeze.
Other Recipes
If this recipe is not quite for you, here are a few others you might consider. The Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips is pretty traditional. If the cardamom caught your eye and you don't have bananas, how about some Cardamom Apple Bread? Or maybe you just need some Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Brownies. If you're just here for a Claire Saffitz recipe, I have one other one to recommend. It's behind a paywall, but her New York Times recipe for Croissants is really good. Fuzz made it a while back. There was a lot of swearing, but everyone loved the croissants.
Recipe
Almond Butter Banana Bread
Ingredients
Almond Butter Swirl
- 3 tablespoons almond butter (48 grams)
- 1 tablespoon sugar (12 grams)
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil (4 grams)
Bread
- 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour (175 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt, scant or 1 teaspoon Diamond kosher
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom
- 2 large eggs
- ⅔ cup sugar (130 grams)
- ½ cup coconut oil (refined for a neutral flavor) (I weighed it and it was 96 grams)
- ⅓ cup almond butter (85 grams)
- ⅓ cup whole Greek yogurt (40 grams)
- 2 large bananas very ripe (8 oz/240 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan, line with a strip of parchment, grease again.
- Make the swirl first. Mix together 3 tablespoons of softened almond butter, tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of coconut oil. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt . Also the cardamom.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, coconut oil, almond butter and yogurt. Stir in the bananas.
- Add flour mixture to banana mixture and stir until combined.
- Scrape the batter into the pan, then dollop the almond butter swirl mixture on top. Drag a knife through it to create a swirly pattern.
- Bake in the lower third of the oven for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
- Let cool for about 30 minutes in the pan. Loosen sides of loaf with a knife, then carefully turn from pan and let cool completely before slicing.
Anna says
Lindsay, thanks for experimenting with the sugar and reporting back.
Lindsay says
Best banana bread I’ve ever made. I cut the sugar to 90 grams and it was plenty sweet. Will cut the sugar in the almond swirl next time too.
Anna says
Lindsay, thanks for letting me know! I am trying to add more hints and tips AND organize them better. Claire's banana bread recipe is a keeper. Her book, Dessert Person, is also a good read. Back to the pastry brush, it's really handy when you are greasing a fluted pan because you can get in the crevices.
Lindsay says
I’ve never been to your blog before- came looking specifically for this Claire Saffitz recipe- but I found your explanations really helpful! I like your tip about greasing pans with coco oil and a pastry brush. I don’t know why I haven’t been doing this all along! Thanks for the good idea. 🙂
Sue says
This is so good! We’ve had it a couple of times.