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Lemon Squares
Dena Kleiman, Susan Mahnke Peery
2029 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
2,029
1 hour
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Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
Stir the flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl.
Brown butter: Melt butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. Cook butter, occasionally scraping the bottom and sides of the pan with a rubber spatula until it turns a deep golden brown and smells nutty. Don’t walk away from the pan during this process. The butter will go from browned and nutty to acrid and burnt in moments. Transfer butter to a large heat-safe mixing bowl and let it cool slightly.
When the butter has cooled a bit, add the mashed bananas, sugar, yogurt, eggs and vanilla extract. Stir until well combined, then add the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
Pour half the batter into prepared pan and spread it evenly with a knife or offset spatula. Spoon half the chocolate-hazelnut spread in several dollops over the top and use a toothpick or skewer to swirl it into the batter. Spoon and spread the remaining batter over the top followed by dollops of the remaining spread. Swirl in the spread, then bake the bread for 55 to 60 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
You can make your own Nutella. It's insanely good. This is the recipe, from Cooks Illustrated's Kitchen Hacks book. Toast the hazelnuts first at 375 for about 10 or 12 minutes, and then roll to remove most of the skins. Grind all of this together in the food processor. • 2 cups (8 ounces) hazelnuts • 1 cup confectioners' sugar • 1/3 cup cocoa powder • 2 tablespoons hazelnut oil. • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • teaspoon salt
I checked a jar of Nutella yesterday. It contains palm oil. Palm oil production is a major contributor to rainforest deforestation and loss of biodiversity. Please don’t buy products that contain it.
I actually did this without sugar because I forgot about it, which made me realize because the nutella and the bananas are so sweet I could lower the quantity to 1/4 cup. Although its all about preference. Great recipe NYT
This was better with 2tsp of bourbon. Actually, most things are better with at least 2tsp bourbon.
Made as written except substituted sour cream for the yogurt. Delicious! Thank you, Yossy and the NYT food columnists for your wonderful work and contributions. Your recipes are a bright spot for so many subscribers...
I heated the Nutella, and then drizzled it in three layers, which gave even amounts throughout the bread. This is seriously good!
Instead of using Nutella I melted some unsweetened chocolate and swirled it in. I really agree that we must stop using products with palm oil.
I subbed in chocolate tahini for Nutella and this was fantastic. Heating 1/3 cup 30 secs made it easy to work with.
I haven't tried with Nutella yet, but have been making this recipe for a while, everyone loves it. Like with most American recipes calling for sugar, I reduce to half or a quarter of what's on the recipe. Works great!
Mmm. I made this using Cup4Cup gluten free flour (developed by Thomas Keller from French Laundry) and it turned out amazing! I added blueberries, too, and it was a great combination. Warm with butter! I've tried a lot of pre-made gluten free flour, and this is the one that seems to work the best. I also make my own using Gluten-Free Girl's recipe, and keep it in the freezer to use for specific recipes from her cookbooks.
This is extremely delicious! I followed the guidance to use less sugar -- maybe only used about 1/2 cup -- and also added a squeeze of lemon to the mashed bananas. Threw in a little extra vanilla, and then sprinkled cinnamon on top. A favorite at home and in the office!
MARJIE, SOURF CREAM IS ALWAYS A FINE SUBSTITUTE FOR YOGURT. HOPE THIS IS HELPFUL.
For my fellow vegans: I subbed coconut oil for butter (did not brown), flax eggs for eggs, and used kite hill nondairy yogurt, all at a 1:1 substitute. Worked perfectly!
substitute sour cream for yogurt, caramel sauce for nut buter; heat nut butter 30 secs to make it manageable
I was thankful for the advise to stay put, this being my first time browning butter.
What a delicious cake!
Comes together easily. Followed recipe and found it a bit dry (baked in a glass loaf pan- added time- could be my fault). I would suggest warming Nutella to help spread when adding. It ended up unevenly dispersed when added at room temp.
I made it with Artisana Organics Hazelnut Cacao spread which is made with coconut oil. Tastes better than Nutella even as a spread and no palm oil. I’ve made this recipe more than once. I have also used 1/4 cup of dark unsweetened powdered cocoa and 1 3/4 cups of flour also very good!
So delicious, moist, and indulgent. I just upped the salt a little, to suit my taste for salty desserts, but otherwise made as directed. That said I’ll probably use more Nutella sometime, and I’ll probably try to disperse more dollops throughout the loaf pan to get more of a marbled effect, rather than just a layer of Nutella in the middle and on the top.
250g spelt flour 60g yogurt 100g sugar
So good! I followed a suggestion on here to use half a cup brown sugar instead of three quarters cup white sugar which was perfect. I melted half a delicious Whittakers Hazella choc bar (I’m in Australia) and used that instead of Nutella. Yum! I only had three bananas which didn’t quite make a cup and a half so I reduced the baking time slightly to 50 mins. Next time I’ll be sure to add the full amount of banana. I’ll definitely make again. Oh and I lined my baking tin with baking paper.
Incredibly delicious! Best banana bread I ever had or made! I did use a bit more banana. This is like very moist cake.
Delicious! I'll want to make this again, for sure!
Followed this to the best of my ability and I think it came out pretty good. The browned butter step is an interesting inclusion. To me, it gives the finished product kind of a cornbread thing? Weird but good.
Use less than 1/3 c sugar! Try with 1/4 c sugar!
Man is this good! I used half whole wheat pastry flour and Nocciolata chocolate hazelnut spread (after reading comments here about how Nutella is made in an an environmentally irresponsible way). The brown butter adds such amazing flavor.
Only used 1/2 cup sugar
I do not have nutela, so I use biscoff.... the recipes is easy n delicious... very good gor breakfast & afternoon cofffee...
The batter was SO thick for me (I make the BA banana bread a lot and it’s a very different consistency), so I thinned it out a touch but erred on the side of caution so it didn’t turn out gloopy. The flavours were great, but it was a bit drier than I prefer. A key might be using REALLY overripe bananas. Mine were overripe, but not totally black. They get pretty liquidy when they are totally black and I think it would work here.
The only choco-hazelnut spread I've found that uses fair trade chocolate AND no palm oil is Whole Foods' 365 brand of Organic Cocoa-Hazelnut Spread. Rigoni di Asiago's palm-oil free, choco-hazelnut spread is delicious, maybe even better than Nutella! But the company, whose website claims would humble most B corps., is silent about its chocolate sources.
Has anyone ever tried this with Peanut Butter or Peanut Butter Chips? Not a fan of Nutella or chocolate chips in banana bread.
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