When I saw that the inventor of the Cronut had created a banana bread recipe, I expected that recipe to make the best banana bread I had ever tasted. I probably expected it to be fattening. (Not as fattening as it turned out to be.) I did not expect that recipe for banana bread to be even easier than the fairly straightforward recipe that I was already using.

I recently checked out world-famous pastry chef Dominique Ansel‘s new cookbook The Secret Recipes from the library. It did not take long for me to realize that I did not need to own this cookbook. Elaborate recipes that go on for pages and marshmallows that are made to look like apples are not my kind of cooking. It’s a beautiful book and will make many people very happy, but it is not for me.

But when I read that Dominique Ansel, culinary wizard, had created a recipe for the homiest of home-baked treats, banana bread, I was intrigued. How was his recipe different from every other recipe I had ever seen? And what would those differences teach me about baking? The recipe, which is easily found online, was not all that different than most — it had more sugar and more butter to be sure. I thought the addition of nutmeg was inspired. The most striking feature of Dominique Ansel’s recipe, however, was that it called for melted butter, not vegetable oil, not softened butter, but melted butter. (And a lot of it.)

Melting actually changes the chemical composition of butter by breaking the emulsion of butterfat, water and air. Even once it cools, melted butter is not the same as butter that has never melted. In baking, melted butter is used for any baked good that needs gentle mixing, such as quick breads, brownies and pancakes. These baked goods rely on baking powder or baking soda for their leavening, and do not require butter that has been creamed with sugar in order to rise. (Creaming butter and sugar forms air pockets in dough that fill with steam during baking, creating a tender crust and light texture.) When melted, butter’s role is to add flavor, color and moisture.

The generous amount of melted butter in Dominique Ansel’s banana bread recipe, I believe, is what gives this quick bread its distinctive, crackly exterior. It’s a pretty nifty contrast with the moist, crumbly interior. The first time I made Chef Ansel’s recipe, I followed it to the letter and the result was without a doubt the best banana bread I have ever tasted. My kids loved it as well. But I felt a little guilty about the level of indulgence. Four bananas doesn’t even come to close to making up for two cups or sugar and almost two whole sticks of butter.

So I have retooled the recipe slightly to be marginally better for you. Yeah, it still calls for two cups of sugar and two sticks of butter. Health food it ain’t. But I replaced some of the flour with whole wheat flour and added some wheat germ for a hint of nuttiness and some very slight hint of nutrition. This is French pastry chef banana bread, not hippie Earth mother banana bread, you dig?

The best thing about the recipe, besides the taste, is how bananas easy it is. Honestly, my kids could make this themselves. No need to rev up the standing mixer. Just mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another. Combine the two and pour melted butter over the whole thing. Clean-up is easy too; I just shoved everything in the dishwasher.

So do not hesitate. You have time to make this banana bread today. Your kids will thank you. Your spouse will thank you. Your waistline, on the other hand, is giving you side-eye and asking what it ever did to you.