Give Your Next Banana Bread A Flavor Upgrade With A Few Extra Steps

There's nothing like biting into a hot slice of banana bread fresh out of the oven, especially if it's dripping with melty butter. But sometimes you might notice that your sweet treat, although delicious, doesn't have the strong taste of the fruit that you're looking for. If you find that happening, there's an easy way to boost the flavor without throwing off your recipe ratios — add a dash of banana simple syrup. 

This type of syrup has a sweet, tropical flavor that lends a caramel addition to your batter. Pair that with the usual over-ripe bananas and you've got the makings of a bread with a flavor that can't be beat. The syrup can also add extra moisture, creating a more tender bite once it's cooked. 

You can play around with the amount of syrup you add to your bread. Try starting with 1 tablespoon or 2, but you can add as much as half a cup — the amount you add will depend on how sweet and how banana-y you want the final product to be. Just remember, if you're still using sugar in your recipe, the syrup will also add extra sweetness so you don't want to go overboard.

If you want to add banana syrup to your bread, there are a few different ways of going about it. The simplest way is to strain the fruit to pull its natural juices out. Then just reduce these over the stove until it forms a thick liquid. To get the bananas to release their juices, you can either freeze and then thaw them or you can pop them in the microwave for a few seconds. Either method will help them secrete a liquid that you can cook on the stove into a syrup.

Alternatively, you can make it using a traditional simple syrup recipe that contains banana juice to really pull out the taste of the fruit. Now, since bananas aren't a particularly juicy fruit, the easy way to infuse the syrup with their flavor is to cook them in the syrup and then strain it so that you wind up with a smooth, chunk-free liquid.

Finally, you could always go with a simple store-bought banana syrup or extract. Just be careful if you go this route to choose one that doesn't contain artificial flavors. That artificial taste can distract from the natural sweetness of the fruit and add a more fabricated taste to your dessert.

If the simple syrup method just isn't enough banana flavor for you, there are a few other ways you can also enhance the taste of your dessert. For one thing, you can caramelize them first. All you have to do is cut the fruit in half lengthwise and fry them up with a bit of butter and brown sugar to give them toasty, nutty notes that really bring out their sweetness. This banana hack will also give you an even more delicious milkshake or smoothie, making it a great trick to have up your sleeve for other desserts that just aren't quite cutting it.

Another option for kicking the flavor up a notch is to just use beurre noisette or brown butter in your banana bread. This adds similar toasty, nutty flavors that can help pull out the sweetness of the fruit in your dish. Plus, it can work well with the often-added walnuts or pecans.

You can also try enhancing the taste of the fruit by stirring in a bit of banana liqueur. This sweet boozy beverage not only adds a dash of sugar, but it enhances the tropical taste of your bread. Whether you use caramelized versions, banana liqueur, or simple syrup, just know that there are plenty of ways to step up your treat and enhance its taste.