Banana Bread, pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, why not Ackee bread?!
One of the first forays into the sweet side of ackee. This recipe is modeled from a banana bread. When sweetened, the nuttiness of the ackee is amplified. To play on that, I’ve used brown butter instead of oil and added walnuts for texture.
You can of course use oil instead of brown butter, in that case the loaf will have a more “ackee forward” taste, but the brown butter gives the loaf a lovely depth of flavour and complexity.
See also this recipe for whole grain ackee bread. Same concept just a few tweaks.
Brown Butter Ackee Bread with Walnuts
Ackee’s nutty notes are amplified in this loaf by the addition of brown butter and walnuts.
Ingredients
- 1 can (380g) Ackee (approximately 2 cups prepared ackee)
- 1 cup (180g) Brown sugar (not packed)
- 2 Eggs
- 1/2 cup (113g) Brown Butter*
- 2 cups (258g) All-purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 tsp (9g) Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp (3g) Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp (4g) Salt
- 1/2 cup (60g) Walnuts, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and spray or grease and lightly flour a 9″x5″x3″ loaf pan
- Sift flour, baking powder and soda into a large mixing bowl, add salt and whisk. Set aside
- In a medium bowl, mash the ackee (a whisk or a rubber spatula does this well, alternately, you could pass the ackee through a sieve or blend it). Add the brown sugar then the eggs followed by the brown butter mixing till well combined.
- Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the ackee mix along with the walnuts.
- Gently mix till well combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan and smooth top with a spatula.
- Bake for 30 minutes then reduce temperature to 325F and bake another 10 to 15 minutes till done – a skewer inserted in the loaf will come out clean and/or it will spring back when lightly touched.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn out of pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- Slice and enjoy!
Notes
*I usually brown about 1 cup (227g) of butter at a time, measure what I need for a recipe and set aside the rest for another use – it’s delicious on green beans with a bit of sea salt and garlic.
To brown the butter, place it in a saucepan over low heat and let melt. It will begin to pop and sputter, allow to simmer until it has a nutty aroma and is caramel brown in colour, watch carefully as it can burn easily.