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Monkey Bread

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Monkey bread is beautifully composed of pillowy soft balls of dough that are buttered, rolled in sugar and spice then soaked in gooey, sticky caramel sauce.  It goes by so many different names, it’s hard to keep track of all of them.  Monkey bread aka African coffee cake, bubble loaf, monkey puzzle bread, pinch me cake, pluck it cake, pull a part bread and so much more.  Whatever it goes by, I’ll just call it by what it is to me, my new obsession.

After I wrapped up filming, I may or may not have devoured more than half this tin all by myself in one sitting.  I had the very best intentions of sharing it with J as an entire bundt pan is more than a sizable amount {and certainly not a single serving}.  I thought I was crazy about my cinnamon rolls, so much so that I even created a cookie version of them but these are on another level.  The sticky caramel sauce drips down into every nook and cranny making this even moister and irresistable.  I mean seriously, did you check out my food porn shot there at the end?  That pretty much sums it up for me.  Every bit of surface area of this monkey bread is either covered in butter, spices, or caramel sauce.  Not a bad trio at all, if you ask me.  Each individual rolled ball also makes this the perfect sweet bread to share too {not that I had the self control to do so}.  Want to know something funny?  I lopped off a large section of this monkey bread before pictures because I couldn’t even wait that long and still, it’s forgiving enough that you can barely notice.  Well, maybe you can but it was well worth it and I would do it again.  But seriously, whatever you do, make this bread.  You’ll thank me later and so will everyone that you {hopefully} share it with.

 

 

 

5.0 from 5 reviews

Monkey Bread
 
Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

Author:
Serves: 6 Servings

Ingredients
Dough
  • 4 oz whole milk {but please no less than 2%}
  • 2 tb + 2 ts unsalted butter
  • 1¼ ts yeast
  • 1 room temperature egg
  • 2¼ c unbleached flour
  • ½ ts fine salt
  • ¼ c sugar
Spice Mixture
  • ⅓ c sugar
  • 1½ tb freshly ground cinnamon
  • ¼ ts freshly ground cloves
  • ¼ c melted butter
Caramel Sauce
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1 c brown sugar
  • ¼ c heavy cream
  • Heavy pinch of fine salt

Instructions
  1. Gently melt the butter in the milk. Make sure it’s no more than 110-120*.
  2. Dissolve the yeast into the milk mixture.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, flour, salt, and sugar with the yeast/milk mixture.
  4. Work and knead this dough until it is smooth and soft, comes together and is no longer tacky on the surface. Cover with plastic and set aside to rest in an undisturbed place until doubled in size.
  5. Meanwhile, work on the spice and sauce. Simply stir the sugar, cinnamon and cloves {not the butter} in a bowl and set aside. For the sauce, place the butter, sugar, cream, and salt into a pot, melt, then set aside. It doesn’t need to bubble or reach a certain temperature.
  6. When the dough has risen, flatten it out and begin cutting out chunks to roll into balls.
  7. Dunk each ball into the melted butter and roll into the spice mixture.
  8. To assemble, using a bundt pan, layer beginning with just a bit of sauce on the bottom followed by a bit of the dough balls, followed by more sauce. Repeat. {Also reference video}.
  9. Cover the pan and allow to rest for another 30-45 minutes.
  10. Bake at 400* for 14-17 minutes.

Notes
Prep does not include inactive rising time.

Love,

Your Squishy Monster

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28 thoughts on “Monkey Bread

  • Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says:

    I’ve never told you how much I love monkey bread. I’m not to be trusted near it so I don’t make it often. It’s been a while and it just might be time.

  • Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says:

    ooooh that caramel sauce! LOVE this goooooey monkey bread!

  • Lester says:

    This looks so delicious and lovely Angie! Thanks for sharing this recipe with us all. Have a wonderful week end!!Nice but FREEZING out side LOL here.

    xoxoxoxo!

    Les

  • Kelly - Life Made Sweeter says:

    This looks amazing, Angela! I am drooling over how gooey and soft this looks and that caramel sauce is totally calling my name! Yum!

  • brian says:

    so it is an inside out cinnamon bun! haha all u need is to frost it….i was wanting to see it explode.

  • Tandy | Lavender and Lime says:

    I haven’t made this in ages. It is quite addictive

  • cailee says:

    YUM! What a great recipe! Gotta love monkey bread! So chewy, sweet and delicious!

  • Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says:

    Monkey bread is so dangerously good! I don’t make it often because it is so good but I love it!

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    I just kept looking at it and I imagined it got soooo fat that it filled up my entire house and EXPLODED! lol—probably wouldn’t happen but then again, probably isn’t definitely, right? =)

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    The weather can’t seem to make up its mind here. I hope you’re staying bundled up, Les!

  • Anna @ shenANNAgans says:

    I have never heard of Monkey bread. What the heck …. I am been missing out. Looks freakin amazing. Want in my life now.

  • Anna @ shenANNAgans says:

    Ooops… Not a very well put together sentence there…. That’s ‘I have been missing out’.

  • Louise says:

    Sorry Angela, I will not be baking up this goregeous Monkey Bread any time soon. Like Maureen, I can not be trusted in the same kitchen with it, lol…Your looks divine! I will be saving this recipe though, you just never know when comapny may request some oozy gooey Monkey Bread!

  • brian says:

    if someone can live in a gingerbread house…then there is no reason Squishy can”t live in a Monkey bread loft! hehe

  • K / Pure & Complex says:

    This monkey bread looks so delicious. Now I want something sweet lol. I love this video

  • Saskia (1=2) says:

    YES please! This bread has some of my favorite ingredients in one fabulous gooey concoction – cinnamon, cloves, cream and BUTTER. Holy moley, can’t wait to give it a try. Looks like the perfect school holiday activity too! My boys love a bit of dough action.

  • Gabriel says:

    Do you thing it would be a nice combination if I filled the dough balls with chocolate ganache?

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    That is a fantastic idea, Gabriel! Please let me know how it turns out!!

  • Gabriel says:

    Turned out great! except for a few issues… haha. First, it proved impossibly hard to use chocolate ganache, since the dough balls are so small the filling turned out to be too messy to do it that way. I ended up using pure chunks of chocolate instead of chocolate ganache (it still tasted wonderful though). Second, the caramel sauce turned out way too thick and dark compared to how it should have been, so the ending product had more of a caramel cover than a dripping sauce.

  • Joi says:

    I’ve been looking for a non-canned biscuit recipe for forever! I just made these and they were AMAZING I literally ate half, my mom had to stop me lol. But these are so gooooood

  • Jeanie says:

    I love this from scratch monkey bread. I am making it tonight for an easy Sunday morning breakfast. Thanks so much and I am sure my family will to…after breakfast!!!!!:-)

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Thanks for letting me know, Jeanie! I hope you and yours are having a great week!!

  • Dalia Pasha says:

    Hi! How long should I let the dough rest for ? Also, is it fine to use instant yeast? Thank you!

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hi, Dalia! Instant yeast is just fine. The dough is ready when it has doubled in size. Where I live now, in the VI, sometimes that’s 20 minutes whereas stateside, it was almost an hour. It really depends =)

  • Zondra S Wilson says:

    my bread didn’t rise i think i killed my dough….can i just add another package of yeast and milk to the dough?

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hi, Zondra! I would recommend scrapping that dough and starting fresh. When I first started baking bread, I did this a dozen times. You’re on the right path though! =)

  • Chris says:

    I’ve made this twice now. Both times it seems I don’t have enough liquid in the dough. I becomes hard to knead and I have a fair amount of the flour mixture that won’t mix in. What am I doing wrong?

  • The Squishy Monster says:

    Hi, Chris. If you’re in a dry environment (especially during the classic winter months), you will always need a bit more liquid to compensate. Begin with adding 1-2 ounces extra in at a time. I’ve also read that the type of flour you use can impact the elasticity of a dough. Look for unbleached flour which hasn’t been chemically altered for a stark white aesthetic. Lastly, try sprinkling in the flour a cup at a time. Work the dough and go from there =)

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