Monkey Bread

On a crisp fall Sunday morning, there's nothing better than Monkey Bread.

Why is a giant loaf of melted cinnamonny goodness called Monkey Bread? I have absolutely no idea.  The only thing I can think of is we all look like a pack of hungry monkeys picking at a giant melon as we devour the entire loaf in about 10 minutes.

You can get the dough balls from a couple different sources.  The easy route is to buy a few cans of the pre-made biscuit dough.  Just chop them into thirds or quarters and you're ready to go.  If you like the bread to have more of the roll consistency, then use thawed and raised frozen roll dough.  If you're really ambitious, you can make a double batch of my Buttermilk Biscuit Dough ,even go the Cinnamon Raisin dough route to blend the spices all the way through the dough if you want.  The taste is incredible, but this is the option for the people who have tons of energy or time in the morning.  For the inherently lazy, like me, the prepackaged biscuits are a great way to go.

This is a very kid friendly recipe as well.  Since you're going to be coating close to 100 little balls of dough, having a few small hands shaking the coating bags while you create the brown sugar sauce.  And letting them assemble the bread in the bundt pan for a cool shape (or just a 13x9 pan) is a great way for them to be involved.

Monkey Bread

3 cans of pre-made biscuit dough or about 40 thawed roll balls or 2 batches of our Buttermilk Biscuit recipe
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks of butter
1/2 to 3/4 cup raisins (optional)

Grease the insides of a bundt cake pan.

Cut the dough into 1/2 to 1 inch balls.  Combine the white sugar and cinnamon into a gallon ziploc bag and shake to combine.  Open the bag add about 8-10 of the little bread balls and shake to coat them.

Place the coated dough balls into the bottom of the bundt pan and sprinkle just a few of raisins on top of the balls.  Repeat this step until all of the balls are coated and placed.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

In  a small saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar.  Cook over medium high to bring it to a boil.  Boil for about 1 minute, then pour the mixture evenly over the dough.

Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes.  Let it rest for about 10 minutes, then pour the bread out onto a large plate or platter.

Grab a few pieces before the pack of monkeys descends upon it and decimates it.