Monkey Bread

This is what happens when the only bundt pan you own is shaped like a castle. It seemed like such a great idea at the time... castle shaped cakes! So great!

I'm having second thoughts on my initial enthusiasm as I often find myself wishing for a nice round, normal bundt pan. Those turrets are tricky, man. No matter how much non-stick cooking spray I put on those things, cake refuses to come out of there cleanly. 

Oh well. Still tastes good. Like this monkey bread. No monkey bread was harmed by the fact it was cooked in a castle pan. In fact, it was juicy, dripping in caramely-tasting goodness. Highly addictive. 

Enjoy!

Monkey Bread

For the Bread:

• 3 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 1.2 TBS sugar
• 1/2 TBS salt
• 1 TBS shortening
• 2 TSP yeast
• 1 cup + 2 TBS warm water

Directions: 

In a large bowl, stir 2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, shortening, and yeast until well mixed. Add warm water. Knead with bread attachment of an electric mixer for 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Add enough of the remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle.

Knead dough by hand for about 5 minutes until smooth and springy. Place in a bowl, cover with towel, and let rise in a warm place for 15-20 minutes.

Once dough has risen a bit, pull off pieces of dough and roll them into ping-pong sized balls.

For the Glaze:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions:

Combine the white sugar with the cinnamon. Pour these into a 1 gallon ziploc bag and shake to mix evenly.

Place dough balls into the ziploc and shake to coat evenly in the cinnamon-sugar mix.

Spread the now-coated dough balls out evenly in the bundt pan.

Melt the two sticks of butter together with ½ cup of brown sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook butter and sugar mixture, stirring for a few minutes until completely blended, smooth, and a golden brown color. Pour this mixture over the biscuits.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes until the crust is a deep dark brown on top. Remove from oven and allow to  cool in the pan for 15-30 minutes (or less if you're like me and can't wait). Once cool, flip the pan over on to the plate and dig in.