Monkey Bread

Every Christmas morning our family enjoys a breakfast of Monkey Bread and Eggs Benedict. This is a tradition that stems from my husband's childhood. It's pretty quick to make and sure tastes great.

From the Kitchen of Grandma Joyce Zachary

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

½ cup margarine
½ cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. water
2 (10 oz) cans Hungry Jack Biscuits

In small saucepan melt margarine. Coat bottom and sides of ungreased 12-cup fluted tube pan (or bundt pan) with 2 Tbsp of melted margarine. Sprinkle 3 Tbsp. of the nuts over bottom of pan.

Add remaining nuts, brown sugar and water to remaining margarine; heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Separate dough into 20 biscuits; tear or cut each biscuit into quarters and shape into a ball. Place ½ of the balls into the bottom of the pan. Drizzle half of the caramel sauce over balls. Repeat layers.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. (I’ve found it may even need 30-35 minutes but you may need to put some tinfoil on top to prevent the top from burning if you cook it this long). Invert immediately on a plate and remove from pan.

Optional Variation 1: sprinkle dough generously with cinnamon and add to each layer of dough.
Optional Variation 2: add 1 tsp or so of vanilla to the caramel mixture at the end of cooking. It really enhances the flavor and makes the monkey bread smell delicious.

The last time I made this recipe, I opted to make my own biscuit dough rather than buying store-bought. It turned out great and I actually liked the flavor of the dough better than the store-bought because sometimes I find their dough a little too salty. It also costs a lot less than spending nearly $6 on two tubes of refrigerated dough. If you’d like a good and easy biscuit recipe, I posted my recipe here.