Using ready made biscuit dough, Caramel Apple Monkey Bread is quick, easy and delicious with the addition of apples and caramel sauce.
Some of you might be wondering, ' What the heck is Monkey Bread?' Monkey bread (aka pull-apart bread, bubble loaf and bubble bread) descends from traditional sweet, yeast rolls with centuries of history. Better known as a simple cinnamon sugar version, we decided to try our hand at making Caramel Apple Monkey Bread. Worth it!
Food historians tell us the first people to make sweet, buttery rolls with cinnamon were ancient Middle Eastern cooks. These recipes and spices traveled to Europe in the Middle Ages with crusaders, travelers, traders and explorers and though recipes varied according to culture and cuisine, the concept remained stable.
German kuchen, French galette, Pennsylvania Dutch sticky buns and monkey bread all descended from these old recipes.
Still I decided to mix it up a bit and thought what better than this time of year for Caramel Apple Monkey Bread? Great for breakfast but also perfect as a dessert for the food extravaganza called the Super Bowl...where people gather to eat...and some even watch a football game!
It's still a mystery as to who coined the name Monkey Bread and while there are several guesses, the most promising one is simply that the eating of this bread, which often involves picking off pieces to nosh on it, resembles the way monkeys eat.
Who knows...maybe it was a zoologist who came up with this moniker?
I first tried my hand at this recipe when my children were young and there was a simplified version using canned biscuits. While I most often make everything from scratch, this is one of a couple of tried and true dishes where I keep the tradition that is original to myself and my girls.
Having a couple of quick and easy baked dishes up my sleeve has served me well over the years as I was often the first to raise my hand to bring something and add a single mom, also the first to run out of time and wonder what I was thinking...enter either Monkey Bread or this Bacardi Rum Cake with Butter Rum Glaze.
I've been thinking of a couple of fun derivations where I stray a bit from the original recipe of butter dipped dough balls that are then rolled in cinnamon and sugar and this is one of them.
I LOVE everything Caramel and Apple; in fact I'm happy to bypass the whole pumpkin extravaganza that is so prevalent during fall and venture instead towards a Caramel Apple Palooza...SO much more my forte and something we can enjoy all year round.
I was very tempted to add a bite of booze to this recipe but I stuck to my original intent; my kids loved monkey bread and I knew that kids today would want this too...so no booze; at least not this time.
I actually made this recipe twice for this post. It's sort of ironic that another blogger asked a question in a Facebook group the other day, just as I was making this, asking how much time we invest in each post.
While many claimed to test their recipes at least 3-6 times, I am not in that group. I make food for family and friends; if it turns out great, I post it. If not, I don't, but I don't try and try again; that would be too boring for me. Except with this.
I made it, I took the photo below and a couple more and I even had some neighbors over to help me eat it. They enjoyed it but I was not crazy happy with the end result and had to do it again.
I thought it a bit doughy and boy oh boy did I make a mess. I wanted the top flat so I could add some sauteed apples so I used an Angel Food Cake pan. BIG mistake. I mean HUGE!
No matter my precautions, the caramel that is poured over the biscuits and apples still managed to seep out onto the baking sheet I had it on.
I also started baking it in my smaller oven and soon realized I needed to move it to the larger oven and I don't think it liked that transition. Between the move and removing it a couple of times to collect all of the syrup that was running out I think it had a bit of a hissy fit; I know I did!
Biggest lesson learned. Angel Food Cake Pan is a #Fail for this Caramel Apple Monkey Bread. Don't do it; trust me. Anxious for better results I found my plain and simple basic Bundt pan and it was perfect. Whew!!
I added some pecans because I LOVE caramel apples with pecans and it was SO much more what I had hoped for. I might not redo recipes often but I'm glad I did it this time because I want to share what I love, not just what I like. 🙂
Great fun treat for a Sunday brunch or for a family and/or friends get together, Super Bowl or otherwise.
PIN IT! 'Caramel Apple Monkey Bread'
