Hi guys – Jeff here! My Grandma McCarthy made monkey bread every holiday growing up. I remember like it was yesterday, walking into her house and smelling that incredible sweet cinnamon scent that lingered for hours after she pulled it out of the oven.
Grandma worked really hard to get the monkey bread just right and I certainly can’t match her skills by making the dough from scratch, kneading, rolling and cutting it into perfectly round pieces. Sometime over the years I switched to using canned biscuit dough and came up with a few other ways to speed up the process. In tribute to Grandma McCarthy, this is how I make monkey bread.
Want to make sticky and gooey Monkey Bread?
Simply replace the quick drizzle sauce below with one of my easy caramel sauce recipes. Click here.
You will need to make the caramel sauce before you start the monkey bread and have it ready to go.
Ingredients:
1 can biscuit dough (8 biscuits)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup Jeff’s easy caramel sauce – See recipe here
or
3/4 cup quick drizzle sauce:
– 1/2 cup well packed brown sugar
– 1/2 cup granulated sugar
– 3/4 stick of butter
– 1 tsp ground cinnamon
You can double the dough part of the recipe above (dough, sugar and cinnamon) and it will fit in a typical size bundt pan. Just increase to baking time to 38 mins and use 1 – 1 1/4 cups of sauce
Preparation
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8″ x 8″ baking dish or a bundt pan. Use bundt pan if doubling the recipe!
Make the caramel sauce or quick drizzle sauce and have it ready to go.
For the quick drizzle sauce, in a small sauce pan, add butter, brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon, then bring to a boil over medium heat for 3 – 4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool while you are preparing the dough.
Be careful when handling the sauce, it is extremely hot! Again you can see my easy caramel sauce recipes here.
In a ziplock bag, mix 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon. Open biscuit can and cut each round into 4 – 6 equal pieces, I use kitchen scissors or a pizza slicer for this step. Add dough pieces to the ziplock bag and shake well coving all sides of each piece.
Begin placing the dough pieces into the baking dish/pan building the first layer. Drizzle a portion of the caramel or quick drizzle sauce over the top ensuring to cover each piece. Repeat layers until all pieces are in the pan and covered with sauce. You can save some of the sauce to use when serving.
Place into the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to sit for 5 – 6 mins.
While still warm, place a plate over the top of the baking dish/pan and quickly turn over. Your monkey bread should come out on the plate looking great and ready to serve.
Enjoy! Let me know in the comments what you think & if you have a monkey recipe you love..
-Jeff
Click here for more of Jeff’s recipes
Hello Jeff, thank you for sharing your monkey bread recipe. I have never heard of it before and will be definitely giving it a try, it looks totally scrumptious
Hey! Thanks for sharing. Just had a quick question for you. Do you use the “flaky layer” type of canned biscuits, or the buttermilk kind? Just wondering if it makes a difference. I love blog; especially all the fabulous meals you make! You guys are great!
Hi Jennifer, this isJeff, I use the southern style buttermilk biscuits, I think these work much better than the flaky style. I will add this the the recipe, Thanks for asking.
Can’t wait to try! Thank you both!
Looks so good! Will make this week for my family.
Love money bread. Thanks for your recipe. Is there a certain biscuit you find works best for this favor profile. There are so many variations. Original. Buttermilk. Homestyle. Honey butter. Etc. thanks!
This sounds great, Jeff and Kristy! I think I will include it in out Easter brunch menu! Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks Jeff, i love that i don’t have to make the dough from scratch. Thanks for sharing looks delicious?
Yummm….will have to give this a try this week while my kiddos are home for Spring break! Wondering about the canned biscuits…..homelstle, buttermilk, flaky….which kind did you have success with? Thank you! Kristy is sooo lucky you cook for her. Wish my hubby woukd cook more ?
This sounds great! Sort of reminds me of when I was growing up my mother making us buttered bread, covering it in cinnamon and granulated sugar, then putting it on the baking rack in the oven, set on broil. Ahhh, it was delicious! I shall definitely have to try this!! I think my grandkids will love it ?
Sounds fabulous…too bad I didn’t have a @mackenziechilds pan to cook it in..lol
Hi Jeff, that you for this tasty recipe, can’t wait to try it. Question, have you ever tried using a “bundt” pan instead of a baking dish? I was just wondering. ?
Have you tried using the frozen yeast roll dough. You can prepare and let rise overnight in bundt pan. Bake in the morning. I also like to make a garlic bread version of this to serve with any Italian dish.
I make this receipe with frozen bread dough take out the night beforehand put together in the morning and you have the best cinnamon buns or monkey bread great for a quick company breakfast
Love it! And love that you’ve created a quicker version… for us already busy, overwhelmed moms!
It is soooo good Tana!! Hugs xx
Hey Jeff! I love seeing what yummy stuff you cook up!! Do you eat gluten free or are you one of the lucky ones that it doesn’t give you trouble? Can this be made with g/f biscuits?
Thanks!!
For the caramel monkey bread, did you just add more sauce over the top after it finished baking? Can’t remember!
Thanks!
Hi Mary Anne, Jeff updated the original recipe to explain how he makes it using the caramel sauce. Here’s the link to see it and read what he does..
https://kristywicks.com/jeffs-easy-monkey-bread-recipe/
I made Monkey Bread with Grand’s Home-style biscuits for Christmas morning. I added a chopped apple to the mixture. Huge hit!! Only issue was . . . I used 2 cans in my bundt pan. While cooking, they rose so high & the caramel sauce spilled over in my oven! BIG MESS! We had the alarm monitoring company calling! We explained what happened & they said they would turn off the alarm while we were cooking, So embarrassing!!! So my tip is to make 1 can at a time!
From Australia,
I am wondering how many grams your stick of butter is? Haven’t seen dough or biscuits as you call them on the shelves in Aus. Does look so delicious will definitely give it a try. Thanks for sharing.
I made a variation of yours, I added walnut pieces and raisins. Delicious. Thanks for sharing your recipe. Love following you and Kristy. Happy New Year.
This looks like it’s worth cheat on trying to eat healthy lol. Thanks for sharing ☺