Not Vanilla Extract — Banana Bread Is 10x More Flavorful When You Add This Classic Coffee Mix-In

Some of the best banana bread adaptations borrow from the coffee world. Espresso powder can better balance a banana bread's sweetness. Regular brewed coffee sometimes finds its way in as well. And you can take inspiration from more elaborate sips like caramel macchiatos when you add that titular sticky confection to your next loaf, too.

A bakery-worthy banana bread will already have a somewhat caramelized finish thanks in part to the fruit's natural sugars. Adding caramel sauce to the batter will only amplify that effect. Banana bread's abundant versatility means that you can add around a quarter cup of the stuff for every four bananas to your existing favorite recipe. The finished product is obviously going to turn out pretty sweet. Should you prefer to take that quality back, you probably wouldn't be looking for opportunities to add something like caramel to begin with. But you can also use a little less granulated sugar than usual when you want to up your caramel quotient without getting too far into candy territory.

A banana bread's sugar quantity can vary from around two tablespoons of sugar per banana to three times that much, depending on whose instructions you're following. Hewing closer to the former end of that spectrum will save your caramel banana bread from becoming too cloying. Reducing a banana bread recipe's intended sugar by a little bit won't negatively impact its chemistry either. And a few more carefully considered additions can bolster it even further.

The somewhat bitter walnuts that you'll find in an ordinary banana bread can be even more useful in this caramel variety. Their added texture is always terrific, and the flavor contrast that they provide versus the assertive sugars in caramel banana bread creates a more dynamically layered bite. Almonds are appropriate here, too, but you'd want to stop short of notably sweeter nuts like cashews and pecans.

Somewhat paradoxically, chocolate can perform beautifully in a caramel banana bread, too, provided that you keep it on the dark side. Not unlike the walnuts, a dark chocolate made with at least 50% cocoa solids will contrast nicely with your other caramel banana bread ingredients. Any of the top picks from our ranking of the best store-bought dark chocolate bars would be great to break up in this case. The semisweet chips you'd more commonly use for cookies would also be suitable. Some of the most common banana bread mix-ins, like salty crushed pretzels and tangy cream cheese, will work wonderfully as well, all while keeping the flavor of the caramel and banana at the forefront.