Chai & Rum Banana Bread . . .

It's been quite a while since I've whipped up a batch of banana bread and shared it here, so today's treat is long overdue. This quick-bread has just a little bit of bite, thanks to a few of the typical chai tea spices--cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and allspice (no pepper or cloves here, but feel free to add in a pinch or two if that's your thing)--along with a modest splash of dark rum. Why the rum? Well . . . let's just say that bananas and rum are really good pals and leave it at that. 

Simple to throw together, this bakes up in about an hour, and smells fantastic doing so. Makes a  velvety-textured breakfast bread or snack. In fact, Nathan, my sixteen-year old, informed me a few minutes ago that this stuff's great slathered with peanut butter (who knew?). So, save those brown bananas! Yes, they are good for something after all. 

About this recipe . . . 

Adapted from a recipe in the May 2012 issue of Cooking Light magazine, you can certainly glaze this bread if that's the way you're leaning. Picture a thin rum-spiked icing, drizzling down the sides of this golden loaf. Yum, right? Of course. But, honestly, the brown sugar in the batter, not to mention the over-ripe bananas themselves, make this just sweet enough without pushing it into dessert territory. Sometimes, that's all the sweetness a girl craves, and such was the occasion. 

I made a few minor alterations to the original formula, including reducing the amount of sugar by about 25 percent, and using all brown sugar versus a combo of white and brown. I also added in a tablespoon of dark rum, just to jazz things up, fiddled with the spice amounts a bit, increased the salt by a mere smidgen, and used vanilla-bean paste instead of vanilla extract. And, as always, I reworded the recipe to reflect exactly what I did.

Chai & Rum Banana Bread

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a standard size (9" x 5") loaf pan. 

1 and 1/2 cups soft, very ripe banana (about 3 medium-sized bananas), mashed

1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt (I used Greek style, Chobani brand.)

5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

2 large eggs, at room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed (I used light brown sugar.)

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use unbleached.)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt (I used coarse kosher salt.)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla-bean paste (I used paste.)

1 tablespoon good-quality dark rum

In a medium mixing bowl, lightly whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.

In the large bowl of your mixer, using the paddle attachment on medium-low speed (or you can easily do this recipe all by hand, if you prefer), mix the banana, yogurt, melted butter, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, and rum until very well combined, for a minute or two. 

Add the dry ingredients all at once to those in the mixer bowl and mix on the lowest speed just until combined, definitely less than one minute (over-mixing will make the bread tough). The batter will look a little lumpy. 

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smooth the top if needed, and bake for 50 minutes; check the loaf by inserting a toothpick into the center. It should come out mostly clean. If it doesn't, bake for another five to ten minutes and check again. The top should be dark golden brown when it's ready. If it looks like its browning too fast, lightly cover the top with a sheet of foil.

Let the finished loaf cool in its pan, on a rack, for about five minutes before removing it from the pan. Let it finish cooling on a rack. Store well covered. 

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Now That's Dark Chocolate! . . . Glazed Black-Cocoa Brownies with Coconut and Rum

It's finer in texture than the finest top-soil. A gentle breeze sends it flying. If not handled gingerly it makes an awful mess, like ashes spilled from a fireplace. What is it? It is utter darkness in cocoa form. Tres noir. Like a night sky with no moon.

 

Where natural cocoa is mild and welcoming, black cocoa is intense and vaguely threatening. Bitter in a way that only a true chocolate lover can appreciate, it takes no prisoners. A profoundly dark version of regular Dutch process cocoa--but one that has been extremely alkalized--black cocoa is typically used in combo with additional chocolate components.

About this recipe . . .
 
These brownies have their genesis in a simple fudge brownie recipe that I encountered last year in Midwest Living magazine's February 2009 issue. Those basic brownies were good, but I substantially revised the formula to what I think was very interesting effect. I did this by adjusting the proportion of flour, changing the variety of chocolate used, adding in unsweetened coconut and black cocoa, and reducing the amount of vanilla while adding in dark rum. Finally, I augmented the baked brownies with a shiny dark glaze. 

This recipe makes a tender and cake-like brownie, with a moist and slightly gooey texture. The glaze sets up quickly, but doesn't dry hard; it stays reasonably soft without becoming sticky or drippy.

Glazed Black-Cocoa Brownies with Coconut and Rum

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter or grease a 9" by 13" baking pan. Cut parchment paper to fit the pan and to overhang all four sides by at least an inch, then lightly butter or grease the parchment.

For the brownies:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
8 oz. dark chocolate
2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. dark rum (I used Myers's Rum, Original Dark)
3/4 cup All-Purpose flour (I used unbleached)
3 Tbsp. black cocoa (I used King Arthur brand; if you don't have this, you can use Dutch process, or better yet Hershey's Special Dark cocoa)
1/2 cup grated unsweetened coconut (if not in your grocery store, you can find this in health food stores; note that it's grated vs. shredded, thus much finer and completely dry vs. moist)
3/4 tsp. salt
1 pinch cinnamon
1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. large flake coconut to use as garnish (optional)

In a heavy sauce pan, slowly melt the butter, dark chocolate, and unsweetened baking chocolate over very low heat. Stir frequently and gently, until the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, stir together both of the sugars, the eggs, the vanilla extract, and the rum.

Pour in the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, coconut, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and black cocoa.

Fold this into the liquid mixture, and stir to fully combine. The batter will be quite thick, but should still be easily spreadable. Using a rubber spatula, spread the batter evenly into the pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes or so, checking the brownies at 25 minutes. The brownies are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, and the brownie top-crust no longer appears wet.

Let the brownies cool in their pan, on a rack, for about half an hour. In the meantime, prepare the glaze.


For the glaze:

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp. hot water
1 Tbsp. dark rum
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder, or Dutch process cocoa (I would advise against using black cocoa powder in this glaze, or just use a tiny bit; it's bitter flavor might prove to be too much, but, hey, you're the driver!)
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Mix together the hot water and the cocoa powder in a small bowl. Stir into this the melted butter,vanilla extract, and rum. Add the confectioners' sugar and stir until the mixture is completely smooth.

While the brownies are still just slightly warm, carefully remove them from the pan by pulling up firmly on opposite sides of the parchment paper, and setting them down quickly, still on the paper. (The glaze will spread more easily if the brownies are not completely cold at this point.) Using an offset spatula, spread the glaze before it has a chance to firm up.

Let the glazed brownies cool completely before you try to cut them. If you like, use a cookie cutter, and garnish them with a bit of large-flake coconut.

I think these are even more delicious the second day . . . and the third day . . . and the fourth day . . .


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