Monkey Bread

When I first set out on my quest with this log, I vowed to blog about my experiences, whether they were good, bad, or ugly.  Well, here is one of the uglies...

This recipe comes from Real Simple's "Don't Make, Fake It" series. I was holding onto for quite some time.  I have never heard of monkey bread prior to seeing this.  However, the day I was out getting the ingredients for the Grilled Steak Vegetable Salad, I came across one of the main ingredients for this recipe, fresh pizza dough!  I might as well pick it up while I am here.  


Well, here is a little secret.  I tend to get a little ambitious and buy a bunch of ingredients for several recipes thinking I will have all the time in the world to make them.  Well, my 8 -month old daughter reminds me that is not the case at all; that I am lucky to have enough energy to get through one meal.  Before I know it, many days have gone by and ingredients start to go bad.  


The pizza dough was not about to be the exception.  Days had gone by and I kept saying, oh I will get to it.  Then I realize the dough was about to expire.  I work from home two days a week.  A light bulb went off in my head!  Why don't I make this in the morning right before I "go to" work.  Yeah, that is the ticket.  I don't have to cook just at night.  This will work.  


So off into the kitchen I go an 1/2 before work.  Whipped everything up and put it in the oven.  Set the timer and off I go to work. Well, you know that light bulb that went off earlier, that bulb burnt out quickly.  About 10 minutes into cooking, I got called into an emergency teleconference.  Long story short, I didn't pull the monkey bread out of the over until 20 minutes AFTER the time when off.  It was more like monkey rocks than bread. I have pictures of my disaster but I for some reason Blogger keeps fighting me on uploaded them.  Even Blogger is embarrassed by these pictures. 


Minus my "alteration" to the recipe, below should work if you decide to give it a try.

Ingredients 

• 2 packages of pizza dough 
• 1 Stick of Butter 
• Cinnamon 
• Sugar

Notes
You'll also need a bunt pan OR a bowl and cup that can be placed in the oven. Cinnamon/Sugar should be mixed in a ratio of 1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon per 1 cup of sugar 

Directions

1. PREHEAT oven to 375 F
2. GREASE bowl or bunt pan with butter 
3. MELT the remainder in a small bowl 
4. COMBINE Cinnamon/Sugar in a bow
5. TEAR off small bits of dough and roll into balls. They don't need to be equal, and they don't need to be perfect. Place balls on a plate.
6. Once you've rolled all of your dough into dough balls, dip in butter - then DIP in cinnamon sugar. It may be useful to go in small batches and be sure to use one hand for "wet" jobs and the other for "dry" tasks. This keeps your hands a little bit cleaner.
7. As each ball is coated, place in your pan/bowl.
8. If you're not using a bunt pan - simply place a cup inside a bowl. This makes a pseudo bunt pan in the traditional monkey bread shape (What I did was just use a regular bread loaf pan. I didn't care what shape it too)
9. Before throwing in the oven, DRIZZLE any remaining butter on top of the dough - then SPRINKLE with remaining cinnamon/sugar. This will make a glaze. 
10. BAKEfor about 30-45 minutes. Keep a watch on your bread (which is the step I FAILED!). It will be done when the top starts darkening. The time may vary with the size of the dough balls.

Results: Even "extra crispy", these are super yummy. I ODed on this and earned myself a sugar headache. I may try this again another time; when I am not working....