Butter makes everything better. Too bad it's killing us all, particularly those of us who are lactose intolerant. Ahem. I recall an article that our eleventh-grade Spanish teacher had us read about a study about olive oil vs. butter. Countries that cooked primarily with the former were healthier, overall, or had longer lifespans, or something.

But the thing is, butter tastes good. For instance, I previously posted about a dairy-free, gluten-free banana bread, but while delicious and earthy with its corn-flour grit, it couldn't hold a candle to this...

Brown Butter Banana Bread

3-4 overripe bananas
1/3 cup salted butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 pinch ground cloves
1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the middle. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

Brown butter over medium-high heat in a saucepan until amber in color and effusing the best nutty aroma of all. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas. Pour in the browned butter and mix. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well, then add the sugar. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and stir in. Sprinkle in the spices and after combining, add the flour. Stir until just combined. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before removing from pan.