Mid-Week Treat

This week has been rough in our house. We had some extra medical appointments, some illness and some missed school days. Originally, I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to pull off a blog post this week. But, due to the aforementioned illness, I had a day off from running, so I thought I would take the time to make a yummy treat.

My oldest daughter has been craving monkey bread lately. In the past, we have been able to find frozen monkey bread that you pop in the microwave and just heat and eat. After 3 attempts to find it, I surrendered and said we would simply make our own.

I had purchased some frozen dough for dinner rolls and remembered the package mentioned using it to make monkey bread. So, I peeked at the instructions on the package and then hit the Internet to find a way to jazz it up. I found a recipe that really spoke my love language from www.dessertnowdinnerlater.com. This delightful lady combines 2 of my loves – monkey bread and apple fritters. Yes, Ma’am!

The dough I had on hand was from Bridgford, but you can use any packaged frozen rolls you like. To thaw the dough, place it on a greased cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap that has also been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Allow the dough to rest on the counter for 1-2 hours, or until thawed but still cold.

While your dough is doing it’s thing, you can wash, peel and dice 3 apples of your choice. I used one big Honeycrisp and 2 small Pazzazz apples. Once your apples are cut up, mix them in a bowl with granulated sugar, cinnamon and some lemon juice. Then cook them down in a skillet with 1 Tbsp of butter. Cook them down until apples are tender and there is no more liquid left. Set them aside to cool.

Prepare a Bundt pan by spraying liberally with non-stick spray. Place some of the apples in the bottom of the Bundt pan and set it aside while you begin to prepare the dough.

Once your dough is thawed, cut each roll into 4 pieces. I waited too long and my dough was no longer cold, so it became quite a sticky mess to cut the rolls and keep all the pieces from sticking to one another. I highly recommend working faster than I did and cut them while they are cold.

Melt a stick of butter in a bowl, then mix 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 Tbsp of cinnamon in another bowl. Dip each piece of dough in the butter, then roll in the sugar mixture, then place in the Bundt pan. Fill the pan with one layer of dough, then sprinkle more apples on top. Repeat these steps until the dough is all coated and in the pan. Pour any remaining butter, sugar mixture and apples across the top. Cover the Bundt pan with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for an hour. The recipe also says you can prepare the monkey bread and store it in the fridge overnight, if desired.

Once you are ready to bake the monkey bread, preheat the oven to 400ºF. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown and it looks like everything is fully baked. I baked mine for 30 minutes and it came out perfectly baked but not overdone.

Flip the Bundt pan immediately onto a serving platter and allow to cool for 5 minutes. If desired, drizzle with glaze and enjoy warm. I used a maple glaze and it was amazing.

I am not going to lie, this was way more work than the frozen kind of monkey bread, and it is pretty messy to make. But, mercy, it is so worth it! Every single member of the family loved this and we will be making it again. It is a delightful treat for any special occasion, but a wonderful surprise treat in the middle of an otherwise bummer of a week.

Buy the frozen dough and spend the extra time to treat yo’self with this amazing Apple Fritter Monkey Bread.

Find the full recipe here.