I wish I had grown up eating monkey bread but I didn't. I was just out of college and in my first adult job (i.e. non retail work for cheap job). One of the ladies in the office brought in this warm, gooey, pull apart cake that she called monkey bread. Right away I was in love with it. The buttery cinnamon sugar crusted pieces of biscuits were amazing. And she said it was so easy to make. Just take canned biscuits, cut into small pieces then roll in butter and cinnamon sugar. Easy peasy!
Of course, despite my instant love of monkey bread, I haven't made it at home. I have saved numerous recipes over the years since I left that job and a few months ago decided to bring one out and make it. I decided to go a little different than the canned biscuit route. The recipe I chose was from scratch and seemed to be pretty simple.
One great short cut that this recipe had was using a bread machine. This let me prep the dough the night before and have it be made overnight. Only a little kneading after it comes out since the dough was made in the bread machine.
The big difference in the monkey bread I had before and this one is the butter/sugar mixture. In this version, the butter is melted and then mixed with the brown sugar. This makes the monkey bread almost caramely while the other is cinnamon sugary. Not a bad thing but not what I was expecting at first.
Despite being more involved and tasting differently, I was very happy with this monkey bread. It made a delicious Sunday morning breakfast (and late afternoon snack!). It freezes very nicely so if you are single like me, you can stash most of it in the fridge for later eating. I have taken some out every so often and taken it to work for a satisfying breakfast (much to the jealous co-workers chagrin!). I still plan on making the other version some day. Perhaps I'll even use the dough from this version so it's more from scratch and not so store bought!
Monkey Bread
Directions
Remove baking pan from machine. Place yeast, flour, ground cinnamon, salt, white sugar, 2 tablespoons butter and water in the order that is recommended for the bread maker. Make sure that no liquid comes in contact with the yeast. Select dough cycle and press start.
When dough is complete, place dough on floured surface and knead 10 to 12 times.
In a medium saucepan on low heat, melt one cup of butter, stir in brown sugar. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat.
Cut dough in one inch chunks. Drop one chunk at a time into the butter sugar mixture. Thoroughly coat dough pieces, then layer them loosely in a greased Bundt or tube pan, staggering layers so you're plopping each dough chunk over a space between two below. Let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until dough is just over the top of the pan, 15 to 20 minutes.
Bake in a preheated 375 degree F (190 degree C) oven for 20 to 25 minutes or till golden brown.
Remove from oven, place a plate face down in top of the pan and, using oven mitts to hold plate on pan, turn over both until bread slides out onto plate. Serve warm...and enjoy.
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