Luxe Banana Bread with Creme Fraiche

I know, I know. Neither the world nor this site needs another banana bread recipe. There’s already my go-to, which I’ve been making in some form or another since middle school, and a whole-wheat roasted version for when I’m feeling a little adventurous. But those are laden with nuts and chocolate chips and all sorts of things that are absolutely delicious but sometimes take away from what we’re really here for: 100% sweet banana goodness.

This banana bread recipe is for those days, when you all you want is the baked banana flavor ratcheted up to 10, permeating every corner of your breakfast. Creme fraiche, which is slightly soured cream (higher fat content and less sour than regular sour cream), adds a touch of richness and creates an impossibly soft crumb, creating a banana bread that is so tender that I’ll actually use the word *moist* to describe it.

I used frozen bananas, defrosted on the counter until their insides were basically incredibly ripe banana goop, liquid gold when making banana bread. And I’ll be honest, if I’d had walnuts or pecans in the house, I probably would have tossed them in the batter. But I didn’t and I’m glad, because the bread is so flavorful that the nuts would have been a distraction.

Are we on 10 yet?* Yes, yes we are.

*I’ve been casually dropping this phrase into every conversation I’ve had over the past few weeks, culminating in a conversation with a very confused co-worker who thought we had a meeting on the non-existent 10th floor of our building. I promised her I’d stop but here we are …

Luxe Banana Bread with Creme Fraiche

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Ingredients

• 1–3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• a pinch of ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1–1/4 cups mashed bananas (from 3–4 very ripe medium bananas)
• 1/2 cup creme fraiche
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9-x-5 loaf pan. (My pan was 8.5-x-4.5 inches and juuuuuuust barely fit … I wouldn’t go smaller than that.)
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars using an electric mixer until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the mashed bananas, crème fraîche and vanilla extract.
4. Using a spatula, fold in the flour mixture in batches to the batter, stirring until just barely incorporated. Scrape the batter into the loaf pan.
5. Bake for 45-60 minutes (mine needed the full hour, though I’d start checking regularly after 45 minutes), until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If your banana bread is browning too quickly, cover it with a piece of foil. Let it cool for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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