Additions to banana bread | The Fresh Loaf

Today I made banana bread and threw in a handful of super ripe raspberries.

Oh man was it good. That got me thinking: what other things would be good in banana bread? I've done walnuts, blueberries, lemon zest, and chocolate chips, and I've heard about throwing in dried apricot. What about dried mango? Or pineapple, either canned or dried?

coconut flakes, almonds, good shake of nutmeg, dried cranberries (not all in the same loaf!), and my favorite is to divide the dough in the pan making a ditch and using chocolate sprinkles in the ditch and spooning in the rest of the dough to cover creating a choco marbled loaf. --Mini Oven

Some of my recipes call for dates, sour cream, raisins, maple syrup, sesame seeds (not all in the same loaf)--but the weirdest award goes to Moosewood for directing you to soak the pureed banana in a cup of strong coffee. Mm. Never been remotely tempted to try it. How do you 'soak' a wet thing anyway..?

You could have a right tropical thing going I suppose, but in my world if you've thrown in chocolate chips, walnuts and a little nutmeg, the lily is gilded. This looks like a worthy edition, though. Where do you get all those fantastic fresh raspberries? Do you grow them yourself? Around here you either pick the tiny but wine-flavored wild ones, tend your own, or pay a premium for half a pint at the grocer's.

There is a berry stand about a quarter mile from our house. Right behind the stand are the fields they pick them in, so they are as fresh as if they were home grown.

I routinely substitute up to 50% of flour in my recipe with granola, the coarser, the better.

Dark chocolate chips and candied lemon peel are a wonderful addition together to add into banana bread. How much of each? - my motto is to let your conscience be your guide, I used a generous amount of both.