Simple Monkey Bread – My Baking Dependancy

With a sticky brown sugar syrup and loads of cinnamon and sugar, this straightforward monkey bread makes for a decadent breakfast or dessert. Thanks to at least one easy trick, your loved ones won’t ever guess that this recipe began with canned biscuit dough!

I don’t begin daily with a decadent breakfast. We don’t even have fancy breakfasts each weekend! 

More often than not, I’m fortunate to get a batch of bisquick pancakes made for the children. 

However for vacation mornings? That’s a time to tug out the entire stops for a particular breakfast deal with.

Whether or not it’s Easter, Christmas morning, Thanksgiving, or somebody’s birthday, that’s when I’ll make one thing like this straightforward monkey bread.

The youngsters can decide off bites of the cinnamon-y, caramel-y bread whereas I sip a soiled chai or iced shaken espresso whereas all of us keep in our pajamas a bit longer than regular. It’s an effective way to start out the day!

What’s monkey bread?

Have you ever ever had monkey bread?

No, there aren’t any monkeys in it (promise!), and it’s not made with bananas.

Monkey bread is created from small balls of dough which might be coated in cinnamon sugar and baked collectively in a bundt pan. Generally the dough is topped with a sugary syrup earlier than baking, and typically the completed bread is topped with a powdered sugar glaze.

When you flip it out of the pan, you possibly can sort of decide off the items of dough and eat them separately. Some individuals suppose that’s why it’s known as monkey bread, however I don’t suppose anybody actually is aware of for positive.

It’s a candy pull-apart bread that may be served for a particular vacation breakfast or brunch. However it’s additionally decadent sufficient that it may well make a scrumptious dessert. You actually can’t go fallacious both manner!

My trick for the perfect straightforward monkey bread

Some monkey bread recipes are made with a yeast dough, just like in a single day cinnamon rolls, whereas others are made with biscuit dough.

I like the feel of do-it-yourself dough however need the convenience of utilizing refrigerated biscuit dough. So right here’s my trick:

Keep in mind how we used heavy cream to make our cinnamon rolls with heavy cream style do-it-yourself? We’re going to make use of that very same technique right here with canned biscuit dough to make this straightforward monkey bread style do-it-yourself, too.

A couple of cans of buttermilk biscuit dough get paired with cinnamon sugar, then topped with heavy cream. Earlier than baking, we’ll add a brown sugar syrup all around the high.

You get the wealthy flavors of cinnamon and caramel notes from the brown sugar syrup with the fluffy biscuit items. The syrup is a bit gooey, the bread is fluffy, and the whole factor is so, so scrumptious.

(If it is a combo you actually love, you need to strive my pecan sticky buns too!)

How you can make this recipe

Because the identify suggests, that is a straightforward recipe to place collectively! You may even prep it the evening earlier than if you would like. 

In any case, I’m at all times in search of methods to make vacation mornings even simpler.

Components you’ll want

The components for my straightforward monkey bread are actually easy. There’s likelihood you will have most of what you want in your pantry already:

• 3 (16 ounce) cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• ¾ cup heavy cream
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ½ cup frivolously packed mild brown sugar
• Pinch of wonderful sea salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the perfect texture, I like to recommend skipping the “flaky layers” biscuit dough. Search for buttermilk biscuit dough as an alternative; you possibly can normally discover it in 16-ounce cans. 

I pack 2 full tablespoons of cinnamon into this recipe. It would sound like quite a bit, however you don’t need to skimp on that cinnamon taste! 

Brown sugar is the bottom of the syrup and helps give the entire thing a wealthy caramel taste. In case you are out of brown sugar, make a easy brown sugar substitute to make use of as an alternative. 

You can even be taught how you can soften brown sugar if yours hardened within the pantry.

Making my straightforward monkey bread

This straightforward monkey bread will get baked in a bundt pan. As a result of the bread is so dense, utilizing a bundt pan helps the bread bake extra evenly.

I like to recommend utilizing a 12-cup bundt pan when you have one, however a 10-cup will work as nicely. Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Pop open all 3 cans of biscuits and minimize every biscuit into quarters. 

Put the granulated sugar and the cinnamon into a big zip-top bag and shake to mix. Add the biscuit items and shake the bag to coat the entire biscuit items within the cinnamon sugar.

If it’s simpler for you, be at liberty to do that in batches.

Add the entire coated biscuit items to your ready bundt pan, arranging them evenly within the pan. Slowly pour the heavy cream excessive. Put aside for a minimum of 5 minutes to permit the heavy cream to soak into the dough.

In a small saucepan over medium warmth, add the butter and brown sugar. Prepare dinner, stirring often, till the butter is melted and the combination simply begins to bubble across the edges.

Take the pan off the warmth and stir in a pinch of salt and the vanilla. Slowly drizzle this combination excessive of the biscuit items.

Set the bundt pan on a rimmed baking sheet – this may assist catch any syrup that bubbles over within the oven.

Bake the monkey bread at 350°F for 45-55 minutes. Let it relaxation for 5-10 minutes earlier than inverting it onto a serving platter.

In case you are utilizing a smaller (10-cup) bundt pan, the monkey bread might begin to get very browned across the high edges earlier than it’s accomplished baking. If this occurs, merely tent a chunk of foil excessive of the pan to stop additional browning whereas it finishes baking.

Simple monkey bread variations

This recipe is for an excellent basic model of monkey bread. However you possibly can simply change it up with a number of ingredient swaps and additions.

To include much more taste, strive swapping the cinnamon for apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or chai spice. The extra spices akin to cardamom, ginger, and nutmeg pair rather well with the wealthy caramel sauce.

You can even add different components to the bread, akin to raisins, chopped nuts, dried cranberries, or dried apple items. Sprinkle these in while you add the dough items to the pan, ensuring to evenly incorporate them all through. 

Make-ahead tip

For those who’ve been studying MBA for some time, you recognize that I like breakfast recipes that may be made forward of time. 

You may assemble this straightforward monkey bread recipe the evening earlier than you propose to serve it and bake it within the morning. 

Assemble the bread by step 6. After topping with the syrup, cowl the pan tightly with plastic wrap and place it within the fridge in a single day.

The subsequent morning, let the pan relaxation at room temperature whereas the oven preheats. Bake as directed.