Meemo in the Mountains: Some New Twists on an Old Favorite

A decadent dessert or brunch item. Very yummy!

Alright! A tongue-in-cheek request for a recipe. I've been trying to think of a recipe to put on this blog for quite awhile. After the Naughty Monkey blog and Jason's "ha ha" request for monkey bread, I decided to look up what kind of monkey bread recipes they had on allrecipes.com. To my surprise there were many, many versions of this old favorite. Three of them caught my eye so I decided to try them out.

1. The first one is called Caramel Monkey Bread. "This sticky, sweet pull-apart bread is sure to be a hit at your next brunch." It is a Smucker's Summer Desserts recipe. I did not have the hot roll mix so I used frozen roll dough and cut each roll into quarters. The dough had been in JJ's freezer for quite a long time, so didn't raise as well as I thought it should, but they were so good we cleaned them up in one evening except for about one servings worth!

2. The second one is Bananas Foster Monkey Bread.
"Just one extra ingredient changes the taste of this classic! Serve with Dulce Leche ice cream for a decadent dessert." I haven't tried it but it sounds good. I'm going to make it for JJ's school snacks on Friday. I'll keep you posted.

3. Finally, there is Orange Monkey Bread.
"A yummy variation of monkey bread." Haven't tried this one either but it will be the other one I make for JJ on Thursday.

CARAMEL MONKEY BREAD

This is the recipe before I messed with it!

1 (16 ounce) package of hot roll mix.

1 cup hot water 120-130 degrees F.

2 Tbsp. butter softened

1 large egg

1/2 Cup coarsely chopped nuts

1. Follow directions on package for making the dough. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Coat a 12 cup fluted cake pan with no stick cooking spray. Sprinkle nuts in bottom of prepared pan.

The pan is sprayed and nuts sprinkled in the bottom.

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

1/3 cup butter, melted

2/3 cup caramel ice cream topping

3 Tbsp butter flavored syrup

I cut the thawed rolls into quarters with scissors. I think I could have just cut them in half if I wanted bigger bites!

2. Mix sugar and cinnamon in shallow dish. Cut dough with sharp knife to make about 48, 1 inch balls. Roll in melted butter, then cinnamon-sugar mixture. layer in pan on top of nuts. Combine topping with syrup. Pour evenly over top of dough.

All dipped, rolled and layered into the pan ready to raise.

3. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and a towel. Let rise in warm place 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Remove cover.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately invert onto a serving plate. Let rest 5 minutes. Remove pan. Serve warm.

The way I did it was to use frozen roll dough you buy in the store. Thaw and then cut into quarters and proceed with step 2. I actually forgot to mix in the butter flavored syrup and it turned out fine. I did sprinkle more nuts and some caramel on top of the first layer so it was really caramelly and nutty. Very decadent!

This recipe and the next ones came from allrecipes.com.

Bananas Foster Monkey Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 (7.5 ounce) packages buttermilk biscuit dough, cut into quarters
2 ripe bananas, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a loaf pan.
Shake the sugar and cinnamon together in a large plastic bag; add the biscuit dough, bananas, and pecans to the bag and shake to coat evenly. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir the brown sugar into the melted butter until completely dissolved. Add the vanilla and stir well. Pour the mixture over the biscuit dough.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool about 10 minutes before serving.

It has been suggested that you can cut the sugar, brown sugar and butter to 1/4 cup each to cut down some of the sweetness. I intend to do this when I make it on Thursday for the teachers.

Orange Monkey Bread

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh orange zest
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup melted butter
2 (10 ounce) cans refrigerated biscuit dough, separated and halved

Directions

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan.
Toss the sugar and orange zest together in a small bowl. Whisk the orange juice and melted butter together in a separate small bowl.
Roll the biscuit dough pieces into balls. Dip each ball into the orange juice mixture and then roll in the sugar mixture. Arrange the coated balls evenly in the prepared pan. Pour the remaining orange juice mixture over the biscuits.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes before turning out onto a serving platter. Serve warm.

Sounds really good to me so it is on the list for Thursday too!