Monkey Bread.

[Originally posted here on February 9, 2014.]

I'm a pretty lazy cook. There are a few times a year that I like to have something special for breakfast, however, and though I still use packaged cinnamon rolls (I'm sorry, but Pillsbury's are just too good for me to bother expending the effort to make homemade ones!), I do like making monkey bread.

Easy Monkey Bread.

It's surprisingly easy to make and hard to screw up, fortunately, which is why I like it.

Just four ingredients: biscuits, butter, cinnamon, and sugar.

Here's what you need:

• 3 cans biscuits (any kind; I buy four-packs of buttermilk or homestyle biscuits and save the extra one)
• 2/3 cup sugar AND 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon AND 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 sticks butter

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix cinnamon and sugar in a large Ziploc bag.

Dump 2/3 cup sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a large Ziploc bag. Shake to mix well.

Cut biscuits into quarters.

Cut each biscuit into quarters.

Add biscuits to bag.

Add the cut biscuits to the bag as you go. I like to shake the bag every so often coat the pieces enough that they don't stick together as I continue adding pieces.

Fill 'er up.

Once all the biscuit pieces are in, seal the bag and shake well to coat the pieces in the cinnamon and sugar.

Separate any pieces that stick together.

There will inevitably be a few stubborn ones that like to stick together. Use your fingers to pinch the little rascals through the bag and shake to separate them.

Coated biscuits.

Some will be coated more thickly than others; that's fine. You just want to make sure each piece has some degree of coating on each side.

Into the Bundt pan.

Dump the pieces into a Bundt pan. Make several jokes about fixing the "boondt" pan, My Big Fat Greek Wedding-style.

Melt butter.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan.

Add cinnamon and sugar.

Once the butter's melted, add 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Stir well.

Boil butter mixture.

Bring it to a boil, stirring regularly.

Pouring with one hand and taking a picture with the other is a little scary.  One of these days, it's going to end badly.

Pour the boiled butter mixture evenly over the biscuits.

I kind of just want to eat the boiled butter stuff right now.  Is that bad?

Ready to bake!

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the biscuits are longer doughy.

Done!

Or so I'm told....I've never actually checked how doughy it is; I just take it out when it looks like this. The top layer will always cook more thoroughly than the rest, so I take it out just when I'm beginning to worry it's going to burn.

So THAT'S where all the gooey stuff went!

The gooey stuff sinks to the bottom, so make sure as you dish it out that you dig all the way down! It's the best part.

Mmmmmmm.

Definitely worth the work.

Soooo goooood.

Here's the recipe, for your cut-and-paste convenience:

Monkey Bread

• 3 cans biscuits (any kind), cut into quarters
• ⅔ cup sugar & 1 cup sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon & 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1½ sticks butter

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix ⅔ cup sugar and ½ tsp cinnamon in large Ziploc bag.  Shake biscuit pieces in bag to coat.
3. Place coated biscuit pieces in Bundt pan.
4. Boil butter and rest of sugar and cinnamon in small saucepan.  Pour boiled mixture over biscuits.
5. Bake 30-35 minutes or until no longer doughy.

Also, I would like to note that it does not work well to make it the night before and bake it in the morning. I tried that last Thanksgiving, and it just didn't taste right; I think the biscuits are not supposed to be exposed that long between opening and baking. But leftovers do keep relatively well in the fridge; it's a little bit chewier after microwaving, but that sure doesn't stop me from finishing every last bite!