Monkey Bread

My mother has made monkey bread on Christmas morning ever since I can remember. It’s one of my favorite breakfast sweets and I look forward to it every year. Monkey bread is basically like a deconstructed cinnamon roll - soft biscuit dough, covered with gooey cinnamon goodness. It’s perfect for the whole family to share as you just pull apart the pieces you want.

Ingredients —

• 4 tbsp butter, softened

• 1 1/2 cups warm water

• 1 packet of yeast

• 2 tbsp sugar

• 1 tbsp salt

• 4 cups flour

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 8 tbsp melted butter
  

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

• 3-5 tbsp milk

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions —

1. Thoroughly coat a bundt pan with 2 tbsp of butter.
   In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water and let stand for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tbsp butter, the salt, and 3 cups of the flour. Mix well.

2. Add additional flour, 1/4 cup at a time until dough pulls away from the sides. Knead for 3-5 more minutes until smooth. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 350. Whisk together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Gently punch down the dough to release any air pockets. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and stretch into a rectangle. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into small squares of equal size (roughly 64 pieces).

4. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, dip in melted butter, and then roll into the cinnamon mixture, and then place into the prepared bundt pan. Once all of the dough as been rolled, cover the pan and let rise for 30 minutes.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until top is a deep golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes then flip onto a platter.

6. To make the glaze — add the powdered sugar to a large bowl and add vanilla. Slowly add 1 tbsp of milk at a time until a nice glaze consistency forms. Drizzle the glaze on top of the monkey bread and serve immediately.