December 7, 2012

Mini Monkey Bread from Scratch with Vanilla Glaze

I tried to tell myself to go on a diet :)
BUT, I kept seeing post after post of yummy desserts.  It seemed like everywhere I turned, there was yummy food staring at me.  Then, the realization sunk in that it is almost Christmas and there is NO need to worry about calories during the entire month.  Yep, I decided it is a "free month" to eat all the amazing homemade candy and cookies and anything else I can shove in my mouth.  I think you should consider it a "free month" too, stop depriving yourself.  Eat that homemade caramel and divinity and drink that eggnog!  Let's wait and worry about it until January. Deal?

You might also like my Mini Orange Monkey Bread!
 That is where these monkey breads come in, they are not "light" by any means, so you might want to save them for a special occasion.  I'm thinking Christmas morning?  They taste like delicious mini cinnamon rolls, yet they are way easier to make.  I love that you can break the monkey bread apart and have little bite-sized pieces!  You can use store-bought biscuits if you prefer, but my homemade biscuits take less than 5 minutes to make.  Your choice.  
Mini Monkey Bread from Scratch
From: Jenn@eatcakefordinner
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbl. baking powder
3 Tbl. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, cold 
1 c. buttermilk (plus a little more, if needed)

Cinnamon/Sugar Coating
1 c. brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 
1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted

Vanilla Glaze
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 - 1 Tbl. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt; mix well.  Cut cold butter into cubes and add to flour mixture.  Using a pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Make a well in the center and slowly incorporate the buttermilk until just combined.  I use a fork at first and then I use my hands to finish mixing.  You might need to add an extra Tablespoon or two of buttermilk to get the dough to come together.  Try not to over mix the dough.  

Lightly flour work surface and pat dough out into a rectangle, about 1 inch thick.  Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into around 1 - 2 inch cubes.  There is no need to be exact, it really won't matter if they are uneven.  Grease a muffin tin very well.  

Combine 1 cup of brown sugar and 2 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon in one bowl and melted butter in a separate bowl.  Take a few dough cubes and toss in melted butter and then in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Place cinnamon sugar coated cubes into muffin cups.  Add enough cubes to fill each cup.  Repeat until all dough cubes are gone.  If you have any cinnamon sugar mixture leftover, you can sprinkle it over the monkey breads.  

Place in oven and bake for 25-28 minutes or until browned and biscuit cubes are cooked through.  Remove from oven and loosen each monkey bread from pan. Carefully remove to a wire rack to cool.  Combine all glaze ingredients and whisk until smooth.  Add enough milk to reach desired consistency.  You can either drizzle the glaze over the muffins while they are warm or when they are cooled.  Yield: 12 muffins.

21 comments:

  1. These look delicious. I love the recipe. I have never made them from scratch. I have a link party called Wednesdays Adorned From Above Blog Hop and would love to have you share this with everyone. It runs from Wednesday through midnight Sunday. Here is the link to the party.
    http://www.adornedfromabove.com/2012/12/fabric-covered-can-pen-and-pencil.html
    Debi @ Adorned From Above

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  2. Deal! Specially for Christmas morning with champagne. Merry Christmas!

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  3. I agree!!! Wait until Jan. That's what I'm doing. Love this recipe!

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  4. I love that these are mini! They look delicious :)

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  5. I am not ready to make from scratch, but I do like the muffin tin idea!

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    1. They are actually really easy to make, but you can always used canned biscuits instead! - Jenn

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  6. Is it the name or is Monkey bread just fun? I love the mini version you make.

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  7. I love the mini idea! These look amazing! I've never actually made Monkey Bread, so I'm excited to try it. Thanks for sharing! Merry Christmas!

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    1. They are easy and I think they will turn out great for you! - Jenn

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  8. Wonderful and delicious looking mini-bread.
    I really like the idea of making mini - monkey-bread

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  9. This bread looks yummy, I can't wait to try it.
    I'm your newest follower.
    Wanda Ann @ memoriesbythemile.com

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  10. These look delicious Jenn! Pinned and featuring tonight! Thank so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!

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  11. These were quite yummy! They sort of tend to fall apart a bit when you take them out of the muffin pan, but no worries. I was glad to find a "from scratch" recipe that didn't require yeast bread. That never made sense to me, since the original Monkey Bread called for biscuits...why use yeast bread?

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    1. I am so glad you liked them - thanks for letting me know! - Jenn

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  12. I needed a lot more milk to make the glaze! It was super thick and chunky with 1 Tbl. 5 Tbl made it... glazy. Hmmm.

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    1. Wow, that is quite the difference. I'm glad you got it to work. Thanks - Jenn

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  13. I just finished baking these. They are delicious! The only slight issue I found with the batch I made is that they are very crunchy on the outside. I'm assuming this is due to the fact that a fairly nice layer of cinnamon was baked to a crisp while touching the muffin tin. I baked them for exactly twenty-five minutes at 350 degrees. Would you suggest only coating one side of each piece of dough with the cinnamon mixture, facing this side toward the inside of the treat so that there is not as much cinnamon crisping on the outside? I'll be making these again for sure!

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    1. You could try only coating one side, but they might not have quite as much flavor or you could try baking them in liners to see if that helps. If you try it again and it works, let me know. I'm glad you liked the flavor - Jenn

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