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Banana Bread

Sally Uhlmann

The Dutch way

A banana bread that is truly delicious, dense, warm-spiced and moist that is so good with a smear of butter.

Beth van Amerongen, a new acquaintance here in Amsterdam, suggested that I use Dutch recipes to become better acquainted with Dutch ingredients. Beth is a good baker, and a woman with an exuberant and generous spirit. “Everything’s a bit different—flour, sugar, all slightly different,” she explained. “I just used a Dutch banana bread recipe and it was the best ever. I’ll email it to you.” And she did. I’ve never been one to not tweak a recipe (I hope you do too) and I couldn’t help myself here. A loaf keeps for three or four days in an air-tight container.

Banana Bread
 4-1/2 x 10-inch loaf pan 

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg (fresh grated if possible)
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 small ripe bananas or 2 large ones
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup crème fraîche (you can substitute sour cream)
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup dried cranberries

Directions 

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 4-1/2 x 10-inch loaf pan. (This is narrower and longer than a standard loaf pan. If you use a standard sized pan, decrease oven temperature to 325° after the 30 minutes and expect the bread to take about 1 hour and 15 minutes to bake.)

  2. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside.

  3. In a large bowl, use a pastry cutter to mash the butter and bananas together until they are pulpy. Switch to a hand-held beater and whip the mixture until fairly smooth. Beat in the sugar and mix for at least 2 minutes until mixture is somewhat fluffy. Add eggs, one by one, beating for a minute between each addition. Add crème fraîche and beat another minute. Switch to a wooden spoon and add flour mixture. Stir until well incorporated. Fold in nuts and cranberries. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.

  4. Bake in the middle of the oven until a fork stuck in the center of the loaf comes out clean, approximately 1 hour. This is a dense cake so be certain it is fully baked. 

  5. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, then turn out on a cooling rack before storing. The bread is delicious warm.