brown butter banana oat cakes
I know, another banana recipe. At least it’s not banana bread? To be honest, I wanted a shortcut. It’s starting to get warmer out (hopefully) and baking a loaf of bread for an hour isn’t going to be on my to-do list very often. These bake in about 15 minutes! I’ll take it. Serve with chocolate ganache (below) or eat them straight up as a super delicious muffin.
Tips: Brown butter is a gem. Don’t skip this step for two reasons: one, flavor, and two, your moisture levels will be off. Just trust me.
Flax egg is a good stand-by when you’re out of eggs, bake for folks with allergies, or are just looking to mix things up!
Oat flour lends a nutty flavor that compliments the browned butter and a nice chewy texture. I make my own at home by tossing old fashioned oats in a food processor/high power blender and run until I get it as fine as possible. Remember, if you’re avoiding gluten, be sure your oat products are certified gluten free.
brown butter banana oat cakes
yield: 7 small cakes
6 Tb. (¾ stick/85 g) unsalted butter
1 ¼ cup (120 g) oat flour, GF if needed
6 Tb. (65 g) brown sugar
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 egg or 1 flax egg (1 Tb. ground flaxseed + 3 Tb. water, mixed and sat for 5 minutes)
½ tsp. vanilla
3 Tb. milk
½ cup (115 g) mashed banana, from 1 ½ bananas
Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Grease 7 out of 12 standard muffin cups.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. The butter will foam and start to crackle. Keep a close eye on it because it burns easily. You want the bits in the bottom of the pan to get to be the color of milk chocolate and smell nutty. Once it’s dark enough, set aside.
In a small bowl, add the oat flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk together to combine. Add the egg, vanilla, milk, banana and browned butter. Mix until no lumps remain. No need to worry about overmixing here- GF oat flour is… gluten free!
Add about ¼ cup of batter to 7 of the muffin cups. They should be about ¾ of the way full. Bake on the middle rack of your oven for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (it took 17 in my oven). Some crumbs are okay. Cool for 15 minutes in the pan before turning out. You may need to run a knife around the sides in order to remove.
chocolate ganache
½ cup (85 g) semisweet chocolate chips
1 Tb. butter
1 tsp. milk
In a small bowl, add the chocolate and butter. Place the bowl over a small pot of simmering water. (Be sure the bowl does not touch the hot water.) Stir and heat until almost all melted and remove the bowl from the pot. Stir until all of the chocolate and butter is melted. Add the milk and stir just until combined. With an offset spatula or knife, spread the ganache onto the upside down cakes, spreading evenly on the top and sides. Allow chocolate to set. It will form a chocolate shell, kind of like a Little Debbie cake, but better. Will keep for a few days in an airtight container.
