Easy Monkey Bread

It’s a tradition in our house to have breakfast and presents for the birthday boy or girl first thing in the morning on their special day. Before I started baking my own bread, we made cinnamon “donut holes” out of quartered, rolled, and fried refrigerator biscuits. That was a birthday morning favorite for a long time.

Then I had to introduce the kids to what has become dubbed in the Kessler house as “Cinnamon-Roll-Donut-Hole-Cake.” After looking at lots of yummy pictures of monkey bread in various incarnations online, I played around with the rolled dough and drizzled the finished “cake” with a powdered sugar icing.

And the kids were hooked…

Now that I make my own dough from whole wheat flour, I try to keep some frozen and ready to go for crazy birthday mornings and other special occasions. For Trevor’s birthday a few weeks ago, I was just too 3rd-trimester weary to mix, knead, rise, punch down, and rise again. I went back to my old “cheater” ways, and have no regrets as making monkey bread this way requires little time, but yields big rewards. {In hugs and sweet cinnamon kisses.}

I was a slacker and didn’t take pictures {though I did have to include the one above – who looks more excited about Trevor’s gift – him or Logan? So cute!}, but you really won’t need them. And if you do, leave me a comment – I can be persuaded to make this again, for my readers, and snap a few pictures along the way.

You’ll need:

3-4 tubes of refrigerator biscuits {I use homestyle}
cinnamon and sugar mixed together in a large zipper bag
two sticks of melted butter
powdered sugar
milk

Now:

Open all of your biscuit tubes and pull out the dough.
Quarter each biscuit and roll it into a ball {or skip the rolling like I did this year, and just leave them as triangles}.
Toss all of the dough quarters into the baggie with the cinnamon and sugar and shake it until all the dough has separated {they’ll stick a little at first} and is coated.
Dump it all in a Bundt pan that you’ve sprayed with cooking spray.
Spread the dough quarters evenly through the pan, and pour the melted butter on top evenly.
Bake at 350-degrees for 35-40 minutes, then turn out onto a plate or platter to cool.
Mix powdered sugar with a little bit of milk – either by hand or with a hand-mixer. {I used a fork and did it by hand.}
Add milk or powdered sugar as needed to bring it to a glaze consistency.
Pour the glaze over the finished bread and be ready to sink into a sugar-induced coma.

We paired ours with protein smoothies to offset the sugar rush a little bit, but yum! This is worth a bit of a rush on any special occasion – and no waiting for the dough to rise!

What birthday breakfast traditions does your family have?

Enjoy,