Monkey Bread from SCRATCH!

It's a Friday before a long weekend which means I make monkey bread for my coworkers. Yes. It's tradition. (See here and here and here.)

 

I've wanted to make monkey bread from scratch using the Overnight Coffee Loaf recipe for the dough. So last night I did just that. Except...gulp...I had put in complete eggs. I didn't realize it only called for the yolks until after I stirred it together. I was sort of upset at myself but only for one minute. As my room mate can tell you, I said, "Oh well. It'll be a learning experience for me. I'll see how it turns out with egg yolks and egg whites!"

It turned out incredibly yummy. I was so happy with the results. It was so worth the waking up at 5am to pull the dough out of the fridge, sleeping, and then waking up again to put it together and in the oven. My coworkers agree.

Monkey Bread from Scratch (adapted from Mom's Best Recipes Cook Book)

1 pkg dry active yeast (or scant 1 T)

1/4 C warm water

4 C flour

1/4 C sugar

1 t salt

1 C butter or margarine (softened)

3 egg (or try just using the yolks of 3 eggs)

1 C lukewarm milk, scalded and cooled

1 C sugar

2 t+ cinnamon

 

Topping:

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 C brown sugar

1 t cinnamon

Soften butter. Cut in flour, 1/4 C sugar, and salt until mixture looks like a pie crust mixture. Dissolve yeast in warm water and stir with a fork so no big lumps form. Once stirred, mix in yeast, egg yolks, and milk. Cover; refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight. Take dough out and punch it and then knead it briefly. Leave dough in bowl and cover. Let rise for 2 hours. (Dough will not double in size.) After 2 hours, grease a bundt pan. Make cinnamon and sugar and place in a small bowl. Take small chunks of dough and roll around in cinnamon and sugar and then place in bundt pan. Boil together butter, brown sugar, and 1 t cinnamon. Pour mixture over top of dough. Bake 350⁰ for 1 hour or until the top of the dough is very hard. Remove from pan and let cool 10 minutes before inverting.

 

Erikas Extras: Frost with powdered sugar glaze (mix 1 C powdered sugar and a tiny bit of milk.)

Bake well and prosper!

Monkey Bread with Peeps

It's been awhile since I brought monkey bread into my office. I try to do it before a long weekend but I've been slacking. I didn't do it for MLK Day weekend nor for Presidents Day weekend.

But then inspiration popped into my head. Or should I say peeped into my head?

"Can I incorporate Peeps into monkey bread?"

 

After some research, I decided that yes, yes I could! 

I decided to melt some electric pink Peep bunnies with some butter to make a topping to put on the baked monkey bread.

These cute little bunnies with somewhat scary eyes were about to enjoy a butter jacuzzi and become...

A molten lava of pink goo.

Cool, right?

 

The marshmallowy topping poured nicely over the top of the baked and inverted monkey bread. It added a slight taste of Peeps to the bread, but over all just created more sugar to eat. Perfect!

Have a happy Easter!

Monkey Bread (aka Pull Apart Rolls) with Peeps (adapted from Mom's Best Recipes cookbook)

2 cans of biscuits (I prefer the extra buttery and fluffy ones)

1 C sugar

2 t cinnamon

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 C brown sugar

1 t cinnamon

1 package of Peeps

3 T butter

Generously grease tube pan with Crisco. In paper bag, put sugar and 2 t cinnamon. Using 1 can at a time, cut biscuits into quarters. Place in paper bag and shake to coat. Place evenly in tube pan.

(Second Part)

Boil together butter, brown sugar, and 1 t cinnamon. Pour mixture over biscuits. Bake 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before inverting.

 

While it's cooling, melt 8 Peeps with 3 Tablespoons of butter. Stir until completely melted.

 

Invert bread and pour Peep mixture on top.

 

Let guests pull apart.

Bake well and prosper!