The earl grey lavender banana bread was created for an Instagram collaboration. The collaboration revolved around adding floral notes to my baking. I decided that lavender will be my floral component since it is one of my favorite flavors. I got my dried culinary lavender at an international store that did not specify the type.
Looking around my kitchen, I tried to find interesting things to pair together. To extract the lavender I decided to use butter. Lavender and lemon pair well together so a lemon lavender loaf would do. I realized that adding earl grey tea into the butter would be extremely simple, and would add a nice tone to the loaf. That’s when I noticed the bananas that were on their last leg. This crazy combination of flavors and ingredients ended up perfectly balanced. Nothing is overpowering yet the subtle flavor is very inviting. The lemon notes in the earl grey lavender banana bread really make this loaf refreshing.
I adapted this recipe from my banana bread cake recipe. It yields an incredibly soft cake as well as a loaf. Even though there are some lavender pieces in the loaf itself, they are not noticeable and also soften during the baking. Additionally, I substituted my signature sour cream for some greek yogurt.
Earl Grey Lavender Banana Bread
Ingredients
Batter
- ⅓ cup butter
- 2 tbsp lavender
- 1 tbsp loose leaf earl grey tea
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 overripe bananas
- 2 eggs
- 5.3 oz 5% FAGE Greek yogurt (1 small container)
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 earl grey tea bag
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°
- First, make the brown butter. Toss half of the cooking lavender (1 tbsp) into a pot and heat for a few seconds. Then add the butter and the loose earl grey tea. Heat until the butter fully melts and browns. Use a mesh strainer to strain the butter into a container and set it aside to slightly cool. The butter will be very brown due to the tea leaves as well.
- Add all the batter ingredients into a mixing bowl at once (including the remaining lavender). Then mix until it is all fully incorporated. This is very easy with a standing mixer and only takes one or two minutes.
- Grease a loaf pan (I used an olive oil spray, but regular olive oil or butter also work). Transfer the mixture to the loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a wooden stick comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the loaf pan for about 20 minutes.
Glaze
- When the loaf has cooled, squeeze the lemon juice and place the earl grey tea bag in the juice. After 5 minutes, squeeze the tea bag and place in the juice for 5 more minutes. Squeeze out the tea bag again and add the infused lemon juice to the powdered sugar. Mix the powdered sugar. If the glaze is too runny add a little more powdered sugar. If the glaze is too thick add a little more lemon juice.
- Remove the loaf from the pan and pour the glaze on top. You can use a plastic spatula to spread the glaze evenly on top.
- Wait 5 minutes for the glaze to harden and enjoy!
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