Need inspiration for a partial-mash porter

Here's the deal:

I ordered a kit for a Vanilla Porter from a very well known and reputable brew shop who markets their own kits. I'm planning on brewing it with my little brother as a sort of tutorial for him, but the recipe is very standard. This is not a bad thing, but I'm trying to utilize this recipe not only to show the bare skeleton of how a normal partial-mash brew day goes down, but also how certain fresh/local ingredients can be added to a brew to give it a new dimension of flavor.

So instead of using the powdered vanilla flavoring that came with the kit, I plan on soaking 2 vanilla beans (cleaned and quartered) in a few ounces of bourbon and adding this at bottling.

I was wondering if anyone has thoughts regarding adding a half-pound or so of mollasses or maple syrup to this recipe and if it is advisable.

I'm not going to post the recipe, but this is a roasty porter that, sans any extra ingredients, will yield an OG of 1.054 or something close. (ABV of 5.2-5.6%)

Will adding these extra accoutrements throw off the balance of this brew? How much molassess or maple syrup is "too much" in this case?

Will adding these extra accoutrements throw off the balance of this brew? How much molassess or maple syrup is "too much" in this case?

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I wouldn't add either. Molasses can dominate a beer in surprisingly small amounts and maple syrup doesn't do much of anything.

Thanks David. I was really considering them to up the alchohol a little bit and add a more complex back to the beer. I don't necessarily want to add anymore DME for a fear of throwing off the balance. I've added simple sugars to some of my beers before to up the Alc., and I've found I don't like to do that with lighter beers but this one will be a bit more substantial.

What do you think about brown sugar?

I really doubt mollasses is going to dominate a porter, unless you use a poop load of it.

I made a brown-sugar molasses porter that had 1/2 cup molasses and 2 cups brown sugar in it. People loved it... except I ended up tossing all the bottles after about 3 weeks of drinking because they started volcano gushing whenever i opened one (I'm guessing I had an infection). I might try it again some day though.