Breakfast was not a special meal in my house growing up. At least, not in the sense that we enjoyed fancy homemade cinnamon rolls and coffee cakes on a regular basis. Sure, we made pancakes (from a box) on weekends, but it was nothing to write home about.
In fact, I had never heard of the strangely titled dish Monkey Bread until I started food writing a few years back. What was this beautiful, mysterious pile of dough that people ate for breakfast? It ran rampant amongst bloggers, even popping up on the "food porn" sites on a daily basis. Needless to say, it has been on my "must-make" list for quite some time.
It didn't totally blow up my radar, however, until only a few weeks ago. I was celebrating a bachelorette with some of my favorite girlfriends at a too-cool-for-school Atlanta restaurant. We had already overindulged in one too many courses of food, but our waiter gently encouraged us to order the sampler platter of desserts. Never one to say no to sweets, I caved against my (stomach's) better judgement.
I couldn't begin to tell you what else was on that giant tray of desserts. It was the monkey bread that took it all home for the gold. It was soft and tender, so light I thought it might just up and fly away. The only thing keeping it down was a luscious, creamy peach glaze holding it all together. We pulled and snatched at the precious dough until, much to our dismay, not even a tiny crumb was left on the plate. So much for being too full for dessert...
I fell hard for monkey bread that night; I've been waiting patiently for the right time to recreate it. With December finally here, I figured the holidays were the perfect time to roll it out. And since peaches aren't available this time of year, I went with a bourbon crème anglaise dipping sauce. Why? Because bourbon is always in season.

Monkey Bread with Bourbon Crème Anglaise
Serves 6-8
For the dough
1/4 cup warm water (105-110 degrees)
1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
For the caramel coating
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
For the bourbon crème anglaise
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
6 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
2 tablespoons bourbon
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of sugar over warm water and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a heavy saucepan, heat the milk and butter over medium-low until butter is just melted. Turn off heat and cool (to approximately 105 ° - 110 °). Stir in the egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt, followed by the yeast mixture.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add 2 cups of flour to the milk mixture and beat until the flour is absorbed and the dough is sticky. Add the remaining 2 cups of flour and continue to mix on medium-low speed until the dough is shiny and smooth, about 6 - 8 minutes. Add more flour, tablespoon by tablespoon, if the dough is too sticky. (The dough should remove easily from the sides of the bowl.)
Transfer the dough to a large, well-greased mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rest in a warm, draft-free place for one hour, or until it has doubled in size.
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a rough, flat square, about 1/2-inch thick. Using a pastry cutter or knife, cut the dough into small pieces, about 1-inch in size, rolling each in the palm of your hands to form a smooth ball.
Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Have the melted butter ready in a separate bowl. Dunk each ball into melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until coated evenly. Layer the balls as you go in a well-greased Bundt pan, staggering the rows as you build. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. (If cooking on the same day, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest again in a warm place for an additional hour, or until it has doubled in size. Continue with the baking instructions below.) Remove the dough from the refrigerator at least one hour before ready to cook and allow to rise in a warm place.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Remove the plastic wrap and bake for 30-35 minutes (33 works for me), until the top is a deep golden brown and the caramel is bubbling. Cool the bread in the pan for NO LONGER THAN 5 minutes (to prevent sticking), then turn out onto a serving platter. Cool for an additional 10 minutes before eating. This bread is best enjoyed immediately. Serve with bourbon crème anglaise dipping sauce.
For the bourbon crème anglaise, heat the cream and milk in a heavy saucepan over medium-low until a ring of bubbles begins to form around the edges. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and salt. Pour about 1/4 of the hot milk mixture into the eggs, whisking vigorously to prevent scrambling. Pour the warmed eggs into the remaining milk in the saucepan. Return the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon (about 10 minutes). Whisk in the vanilla and bourbon. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve and chill, covered, until ready to serve.
Related: Recipe: Overnight Buttery Streusel Coffee Cake
(Images: Nealey Dozier)
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Comments (23)
Monkey bread (aka pull-apart cake) is one of my favorite memories as a child - mostly because it was one of the few things my all-thumbs-in-the-kitchen mom was able to consistently turn out perfectly (albeit using store-bought biscuit dough rather than making from scratch). The glaze sounds like a wonderful addition and I will definitely try tweaking my own recipe to try it out this holiday season!
Yep, agree with Amy@C, cut store bought biscuits into quarters. I don't know if I'd want to make the dough from scratch- part of the beauty of monkey bread is the simplicity in it. Snip up the biscuits, roll in cinnamon sugar, pour on the sugary glaze and bake. Easy!
Having made many from-scratch batches of Monkey Bread, I can tell you that the amount time invested in making it is TOTALLY worthwhile! My favorite recipe (originally from a Sunset Magazine publication) uses canned pumpkin in the dough for a flavorful and colorful loaf.
We ued to take bunches of kids on retreats and ski trips, and Monkey bread was one of our staples. We used Rhodes frozen bread dough or rolls for convenience, but now that I am retired, I'm going to try this. Great for when my gandddaughte and friends head this way for Spring Break. Sounds woderful
Since monkey bread has yeast and is a "risen" bread, I am confused how biscuits could taste anything like it?
sygyzy- I'd guess because Pillsbury biscuits in a can or the like are so far removed from a homemade biscuit with all the artificial leaveners that it just...works? All I know is they come out soft and fluffy like a breads would when you use them for this. Never tried it with the frozen premade biscuits though, only the canned kind.
oh god that SAUCE.
@Fairfax Avenue Do you have a link or can you post that recipe???
@sygyzy - Other way around. Pillsbury biscuits & the like are yeast biscuits that "rise" under the pressure of the tube, and expand when the tube is popped open, while homemade biscuits use chemical leavening.
"Because bourbon is always in season."
Haha! So true!
This looks so delicious! I want it now!
http://brittanysblogofrandomthings.blogspot.com/
Monkeybread always makes me think of the holidays--my mom would make it for Christmas morning because it was easy to do ahead and was enough to tide us over after we opened presents and before anything else was ready! @ruthbjerke, we also always make it with Rhodes dough! I'd be willing to give homemade dough a shot, though.
Will it still stick if I spray the pan with cooking spray?
I think you missed a step.
The recipe went from the rising for one hour, to cutting and rolling in balls, then butter and cinnamon/sugar, then baking.
When does the caramel get added? The recipe says "when the top is golden brown or the caramel is bubbling" - so when was the caramel added.
OH I see it becomes caramel. Got it ignore! :)
Learning how to make monkey bread was the only redeeming quality of me taking foods class in middle school. It's so good!
Made this last weekend and it was great! I used rapid rise yeast which cuts the rising time in half, and I used half white whole wheat flour (King Arthur) - no one could tell it was half whole wheat. Did not make the creme anglaise as I made it for a breakfast sort of snack...kids are requesting it for Christmas morning. Thanks for a great recipe!
Would I be able to freeze this dough? or how long would it keep in the fridge? I would love to make this over the holidays but will be traveling to visit in-laws and don't really want to take the time to make this while visiting. Any thoughts?
This was a total hit in my house on Christmas morning (even without the Bourbon Creme Anglaise). Thanks for a great recipe, and for a great year of fun articles!
This looks so, so good. I wish I had seen this when you posted it, it would have been a huge hit during the holidays. I'm printing this off now to save for later. I can't wait to try it.
always wondered what exactly monkey bread was...this looks delicious and i'm sure the kids will think so too! can't wait to try it!
We know this dish as "penny buns" at our house. SO SO GOOD. Mmmmmm.....
I made this but not the sauces as it is already more white flour/sugar/dairy/etc than is normally consumed in my house. It was a TOTAL HIT with my family and all are begging for me to make again. They were gone within 2 hours. Some notes - I didn't have a bundt pan so I made this modified version in a muffin pan http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/12/monkey-muffins/ - it is done baking in 15 minutes and there is no dipping and rolling (also your house will smell wonderful). There was enough dough for 24 'muffins' but I saved half of it for later. Also: added chopped pecans and a TINY bit of maple syrup to the top. A cursory look on the internet reveals that it is actually quite difficult to find a from-scratch recipe for this dough so thank you so much!! Yuck, dough conditioners.