When it comes to desserts, the easier, the better. Am I right? Well, if you’re looking for an effortless, absolute knockout sweet treat, you’ve found it in Monkey Bread. This buttery, caramelized, pull-apart cinnamon loaf can be made with a handful of ingredients and just a few minutes of work. Bonus: you’re supposed to eat it with your hands, so don’t worry about putting out any plates! It’s time to bring a new favorite to your table!
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What Is Monkey Bread Made Of
In its simplest form, Monkey Bread is chopped biscuit dough baked in butter and cinnamon sugar. Think of it like a pillowy, pull-apart, caramelized cinnamon toast. But, you know, without the crunch. In other words: pure, unadulterated heaven.
Why Is It Called Monkey Bread?
Some say Monkey Bread got its name because its texture resembles the rind of an African fruit often eaten by monkeys. Others say it gets its name from how you eat it- by picking off a piece at a time- which looks like the grooming rituals of primates. I prefer the fruit story. I don’t want to think about monkeys picking fleas off each other. But you do you.
A Note On Caramel
If you don’t have experience making caramel, it can be a fickle beast. You can always skip making the caramel, and just brown the butter, mix in the sugar, cream, and cinnamon and then roll the biscuit pieces in this mixture. You will not get the same texture, (my recipe has a bit of a chewy snap from the caramel coating) but the flavors will still be there. If you want to try your hand at caramel, and you haven’t made caramel before, read these tips before your first attempt.
Troubleshooting Caramel
- To prevent your caramel sauce from getting grainy, use a medium-sized heavy-bottomed pot with rounded sides. A whisk cannot reach the bottom seam on a straight-sided pan, which can strand sugar granules that will crystallize your caramel.
- Keep a steady, medium-low heat so that your butter and sugar don’t separate. Your stove might run hot. Don’t trust your stove dial, use visual cues. If the caramel is steaming, boiling, or rapidly changing in color, lower the heat.
- Do not stop stirring.
- If the sauce separates and the butter pools on top of the sugar, or if it gets grainy, take the pot off the heat and continue to stir until the two come together again.
- If the sauce does not come together or smooth out, add a tablespoon of water and continue stirring.
What Pans Can You Use For Monkey Bread
You can bake Monkey Bread in almost any oven-safe pan, but your choice of pan will definitely affect your results. The best option is a bundt pan because it allows hot air to circulate through the middle of the loaf and cooks the dense biscuit dough evenly. But a pie pan will also work, especially if you place a small, oven-safe ramekin in the middle to help the center of the loaf rise evenly.
What Do You Serve With Monkey Bread
Monkey bread would be delicious topped with ice cream or whipped cream, similar to how you’d serve bread pudding! You can also pair it with savory brunch dishes. Or serve it as a dessert with a strong cup of coffee, a floral tea, or a cold glass of milk. If you want something to break up the sweetness, serve it with salty fresh farmer’s cheese.
How To Store Leftovers
Keep any leftovers out of the fridge, as cool temperatures tend to harden and dry out the dough. Instead, store Monkey Bread at room temperature in an air-tight container. It will keep for a day or two. For more extended storage, freezing is your best bet. Portion it before freezing, as you only want to thaw it once. Wrap it in plastic, then aluminum, and then place it in a freezer-safe container. It should keep for about a month. Then warm it in a 250°F oven for about 20 minutes.
Monkey Bread
Servings 12 cupsIngredients
- 1 cup salted butter ($2.40)
- 1 cup brown sugar ($0.45)
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream ($0.55)
- 2 tsp cinnamon ($0.04)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla ($0.36)
- 2 cans biscuit dough, 16 oz each* ($3.38)
Instructions
- Set a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat it to 375°F. Set a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter and reserve the wrappers. The butter will melt, foam, and then the milk solids will caramelize into light golden-brown specks, creating brown butter. Using a light-colored pan will help you see the color change as the butter browns.*
- Add the brown sugar to the pan.
- Whisk until the brown sugar has completely incorporated with the brown butter and is no longer crystallized. It will form a caramel.
- Take the pan off the heat and add the cream. Whisk until it has completely incorporated into the caramel.
- Whisk in the vanilla and the cinnamon.
- Grease a Bundt pan with the butter wrappers. Add more butter if necessary. While the caramel cools, quarter each of the sixteen biscuits.
- Dip each biscuit piece into the cooled caramel, then layer it in the Bundt pan.*
- Top the Monkey Bread with any remaining caramel.
- Bake at 375°F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top of the Monkey Bread springs back when touched.
- Allow the loaf to cool before inverting it onto a serving dish.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Monkey Bread – Step By Step Photos
Set a rack in the middle of your oven and preheat it to 375°F. Set a light-colored pan over medium heat and add the 1 cup of butter. Reserve the butter wrappers. The butter will melt, foam, and then the milk solids will caramelize into light golden-brown specks, creating brown butter.
Add the 1 cup of brown sugar to the pan.
Whisk until the brown sugar has completely incorporated with the brown butter and is no longer crystallized. It will have formed a caramel.
Take the pan off the heat and add the 1/3 cup of cream. Whisk until it has completely incorporated into the caramel.
Whisk in the 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.
Grease a Bundt pan with the butter wrappers. Add more butter if necessary. While the caramel cools, quarter each of the sixteen biscuits in the 2 cans of biscuit dough.
Dip each biscuit piece into the cooled caramel, then layer it in the Bundt pan. Please make sure the caramel has cooled so you do not burn yourself.
Top the Monkey Bread with any remaining caramel.
Bake at 375°F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top of the Monkey Bread springs back when touched.
Allow the loaf to cool before inverting it onto a serving dish. Serve as a whole loaf, and let your loved ones go to town!
I made this for Christmas Eve breakfast for my kids, and we all loved it. It was a ton of work, but really wonderful for a special occasion. The caramel sauce didn’t work for me at first, and I was scared that I had wasted all that butter, but I tried a troubleshooting trick and added water, and that caused the sauce to caramelize right away. Amazing. I also didn’t want to buy canned biscuits so I made a double batch of the biscuit recipe listed here. I was afraid the bread would stick to my bundt pan, but it didn’t! Also, I made everything in advance and in stages (caramel sauce on day 1, biscuits and assembly on day 2, and baked on day 3.) If you have the time, this is really special.
Could I use a loaf pan instead of a Bundt pan? Really wanna make this!
This may be too much for one loaf pan, but I’d need to try it out first to be sure!
I tried making the caramel twice. Each time, the sugar and butter separated and got ruined. This recipe is not a simple, 30 minute deal for a home cook. It needs more instruction on how to make caramel built into the page. Pretty frustrating to waste 2 cups of butter on a site that’s about cooking on a budget. 🙃
https://www.budgetbytes.com/easy-caramel-sauce/
I DID screw up the caramel at first (my heat was too high!) but I used all your troubleshooting tips to take it off the heat, add a splash of water, stir the crap out of it, and eventually I made a beautiful caramel! I’ve had monkey bread before but nothing like this, it is SUPERIOR in every way. Thank you!
I made this for Thanksgiving and it turned out beautifully. My husband was happy because it reminded him of his grandmother’s monkey bread. Thank you for this recipe!
P.s. The sauce did not sieze. There is a point where after adding the sugar it gets a little lumpy, but just whisk through it until it smooths out.
Thank you, Sara. A few people have had problems, and I was starting to second-guess myself. I’m a chef so what I think is easy might be more complicated for a home cook, but I truly don’t see this as that complicated of a recipe. I appreciate your feedback.
I wish your recipe had trouble shooting. I will not try a third time today to somehow waste more butter and the rest of my brown sugar. If you update, I’d genuinely appreciate troubleshooting tips on why the brown sugar seized and wouldn’t incorporate. I will stick to your savory recipes I guess. Butter isn’t cheap or plentiful at the end of 2022.
Hi Cara. I have made this recipe many many many times and have never had the brown sugar seize. Caramel can seize if you are melting the sugar without a fat, which is why you melt the butter first and then also add fatty heavy cream.
I am unsure as to what you could be doing wrong because I’m not there with you, but if you follow the steps as outlined, it should work. Here are some troubleshooting tips:
Use a medium-sized heavy-bottomed pot with rounded sides.
Keep a steady, medium-low heat so that your butter and sugar don’t separate.
Do not stop stirring. It’s arm’s day. This caramel sauce is worth it.
If the sauce separates and the butter pools on top of the sugar, or if it gets grainy, take the pot off the heat and continue to stir until the two come together again.
If the sauce does not come together or smooth out, add a tablespoon of water and continue stirring.
Agree with Cara – there is very little guidance in the recipe. This site used to have such well-tested recipes.
I don’t know what to say. Beth and I tested this recipe. And I don’t have any more guidance to give. Sorry, it didn’t work out for you, but there’s just so much I can do if you don’t have much cooking experience.
My sauce also seized up and then burned to uselessness as I was stirring it back together. And the recipe says medium heat and you recommend medium low.
Yes, I recommend medium heat. But that doesn’t mean that medium heat on your stove dial is actually medium. It sounds like your stove runs hot. Especially if it burned on medium. This is why I recommended you use medium-low.
I haven’t yet made this recipe, but being a long time aficionado of Monkey Bread, I have one question – why is it necessary to have a paragraph about leftovers? Do they exist?
RIGHT?!?!?!?!? I feel exactly the same way. But some people have self-control. Not me. But I’ve heard they’re out there. XOXO -Monti
Woke up from a dream about monkey bread this morning so I guess I’m making this. My question is: if I only have unsalted butter how much salt would you add back to the caramel ¡Gracias!
It depends on the brand, but usually about a teaspoon per stick (or a teaspoon for every 8 tablespoons of butter). GO MAKE THOSE DREAMS COME TRUE!!! xoxoxo -Monti
I thought it was ¼ t. of salt per stick. A teaspoon would be way too salty imo.
Level it up by following the instructions but using cinnamon rolls instead of biscuit dough and drizzle the icing on top at the end!
YAAAAASSSSSS, QUEEN. 👏👏👏👏 XOXO -Monti
Hi, I may have missed this, what size is the Bundt pan? Thanks!
It is a standard 12-cup! XOXO -Monti
Thanks for the recipe! Is there any non-ready dough one could make that would work for this? Don’t have canned dough available where I live.
Hi, Majou! Here’s a great recipe for biscuits that you can use instead of the canned: https://www.budgetbytes.com/basic-biscuits/
Just double the recipe. XOXO -Monti