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    Home » Recipes » Breakfast

    Apple Fritter Monkey Bread

    Published: September 23, 2018 · Updated: December 5, 2020 · By: Krissy · 18 Comments
    This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
    appel fritter monkey bread

    Apple Fritter Monkey Bread combines homemade dough with a flavorful cinnamon sugar apple filling and sweet glaze for the ultimate overnight breakfast treat!

    Inspired by my ever-so-popular Granny's Monkey Bread Recipe and my no sugar added Vanilla Bean Honeycrisp Homemade Applesauce, this monkey bread recipe goes a step further by using homemade dough from scratch! You can always use biscuit dough from a tube if you don't want to wait. No judgement here!

    monkey bread with apple filling

    Apple Fritter Monkey Bread is like the regular monkey bread, full of sugar, cinnamon, and butter, only better. Way better. Why? Because it tastes like an apple fritter. Plus it's made with homemade dough and smothered with a sweet glaze. What's not to love?

    My standard monkey bread recipe that everyone knows is a bit of a cheat because I use biscuit dough from a tube. My poor readers outside the US don't even know what that is! I personally don't like the way that tubed biscuit dough tastes, and opening that pressurized package nearly gives me a heart attack every time, but you can't argue with the fact that it's ridiculously easy. Making homemade apple fritter monkey bread with homemade dough is definitely not the easiest recipe in the world, but if you love to bake or are just in the mood to bake, you'll love it!

    How to make apple filling:

    I had two options: use cut apples or applesauce. The decision on which one to use was actually quite simple for me. I figured that if I used chunks of apples, they likely wouldn't stick to the pull apart bites of the monkey bread, no matter how sticky sweet and ooey gooey they were. I knew that if I cooked down my homemade applesauce with a bit of sugar and spice and everything nice, it would add intense apple flavor to my monkey bread.

    How do I know that cooking down homemade applesauce turns into something wonderful? Well, one year when I was making my applesauce in the crockpot, I sort of forgot about it and it cooked wayyyyyy longer than it should have. It transformed from apple sauce to apple compote which got turned into the most heavenly cheesecake. Let's just call that a happy accident.

    apple fritter monkey bread

    How to make overnight monkey bread:

    When you make your own homemade dough for recipes like this apple fritter monkey bread, turning it into an overnight treat is easy.

    You see, when you use homemade dough, you must let it rise not once, but twice. If you've never made homemade dough, don't let this part scare you away. It's actually quite satisfying to watch it rise and then knock the air out of it.

    The first rise if after you mix and knead the dough. Then you get to punch it down. I make homemade bread purely to enjoy this single step. It is beyond satisfying.

    The second rise comes after you roll each dough ball in melted butter and sugar and cinnamon and sweetened apple filling. Yes, you read that right. No one said this apple fritter monkey bread was going to be healthy. You can do this second rise on the counter at room temperature pretty quickly, or you can stick the monkey bread in the covered bundt pan refrigerator overnight.

    Overnight is my preference because I love to be able to stick it straight into the oven when the mess has already been cleaned up. Plus, our family loves to enjoy monkey bread in the morning, and unless you like to wake up several hours before the sun rises, you won't be able to have this ready by breakfast time.

    A close up of apple fritter monkey bread
    monkey bread with apple filling

    Apple Fritter Monkey Bread

    Apple Fritter Monkey Bread combines homemade dough with a flavorful cinnamon sugar apple filling and sweet glaze for the ultimate overnight breakfast treat!
    5 from 11 votes
    Print Pin Rate SaveSaved!
    Course: Breakfast
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 40 minutes
    Cook Time: 40 minutes
    dough raise time: 2 hours
    Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
    Scale: 12 servings
    Recipe Created By: Krissy Allori

    Ingredients

    apple filling:

    • 1 quart applesauce (homemade recommended, see notes)
    • 2 T sugar
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 1 T lemon juice
    • 1 T unsalted butter

    dough:

    • ¼ ounce active dry yeast (one packet)
    • 3 ½ cups all purpose flour
    • 1 cup milk (warmed to about 110 degrees F)
    • 1 T sugar
    • 1 egg (slightly beaten)
    • 3 T butter (melted and cooled slightly )
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 T olive oil

    brown sugar coating:

    • 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
    • 2 teaspoon cinnamon
    • ½ cup unsalted butter (one stick, melted)

    glaze:

    • 1 cup confectioners sugar
    • 4 teaspoon milk
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ½ teaspoon cinnamon

    Instructions

    To prepare the apple filling:

    • Combine applesauce, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and butter in medium sized pot. Cook over medium high heat until it cooks down and most of the moisture has evaporated. Set aside.

    To make the dough:

    • In bowl of large stand mixer, whisk together yeast, ½ cup flour, warm milk and sugar until smooth. Allow to stand 15 minutes until foamy (like the top of a latte). The presence of foam is the indicator that your yeast is good.
    • Mix beaten egg with the melted butter and salt. Add to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add 3 cups flour.
    • Using a dough hook, mix on low speed to combine ingredients and then knead dough, 5-6 minutes. If after a minute or so you have ingredients sticking to the sides or the bottom of the bowl, use a spatula to loosen and continue the mixing and kneading. Dough should be slightly sticky and elastic but not actually stick to a spatula when poked.
    • Transfer dough to another work surface. Wipe out bowl and drizzle olive oil. Form dough into smooth ball. Place in oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in warm room to rise and double in size, about 1-2 hours.
    • When ready to assemble monkey bread, punch down dough. Transfer to a floured work surface and cut into 64 pieces (cut in half, then each piece in half, etc until you have 64). roll each piece into a ball.

    To make the monkey bread:

    • Butter or oil spray a 12-cup bundt pan. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon from the coating ingredients in a small bowl. To assemble, take each dough ball, dip it in the melted butter, roll in brown sugar cinnamon mixture, and place in bundt pan. Add half the dough to the pan, top with half of the cooked down applesauce, add remaining dough balls, and finish with remaining cooked down applesauce. If there is any remaining melted butter or brown sugar, throw it in as well!
      monkey bread dough balls in pan
    • Cover pan tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature for at least an hour or in refrigerator overnight.
    • To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F, remove plastic wrap, and bake in preheated oven about 35-40 minutes or until top is deep golden brown. 
      cooked monkey bread in bundt pan
    • Remove from oven, allow to cool in pan on wire rack for about 5 minutes, then invert onto plate.
      monkey bread on plate
    • To make the glaze, whisk ingredients together in small bowl. Drizzle over hot monkey bread on plate. Best if served warm and fresh!
      glaze pouring onto monkey bread

    Notes

    Recipe for honeycrisp applesauce: https://selfproclaimedfoodie.com/honeycrisp-applesauce/

    NUTRITION INFORMATION

    Calories: 361kcal | Carbohydrates: 70g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 243mg | Potassium: 181mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 195IU | Vitamin C: 1.2mg | Calcium: 60mg | Iron: 2.2mg
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Angi

      January 07, 2023 at 3:02 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious.... Instead of dipping into butter I just rolled into sugar and cinnamon. I placed all into pan and made the brown sugar topping but added some whipping cream for some richness and to stay moist. It drisseled throughout as baking and turned out wonderful. I also used 2 loaves of frozen bread and cut into quarters instead of biscuits. Also used frozen fresh apples but boiled down like in the recipe. If I could only add a picture for you by it was beautiful and tasted wonderful.

      Reply
    2. Angi

      January 07, 2023 at 3:00 pm

      5 stars
      Delicious.... Instead of dipping into butter I just rolled into sugar and cinnamon. I placed all into pan and made the brown sugar topping but added some whipping cream for some richness and to stay moist. It drisseled throughout as baking and turned out wonderful. I also used 2 loaves of frozen bread and cut into quarters instead of biscuits.

      Reply
    3. Carissa

      January 01, 2023 at 11:23 am

      I was so excited to make this because I was craving monkey bread and thought it sounded good with the applesauce. Unfortunately it just didn’t turn out very good. The applesauce didn’t really cook or caramelize properly so it was sort of like eating little rolls covered in applesauce. It also wasn’t very sweet like monkey bread usually is- it had a good cinnamon flavor, but I could taste the lemon juice in the sauce which overtook the sweet flavor

      Reply
    4. Joyce

      December 19, 2022 at 11:32 am

      5 stars
      Sounds amazing! The yeast bread sounds much better than refrigerator biscuits, but is there an easy cheat? Like using frozen yeast rolls? Or something else I am not aware of?

      Reply
      • Krissy

        December 20, 2022 at 6:55 am

        Frozen yeast rolls would totally work!

        Reply
        • Angi

          January 07, 2023 at 2:58 pm

          5 stars
          Delicious.... Instead of dipping into butter I just rolled into sugar and cinnamon. I placed all into pan and made the brown sugar topping but added some whipping cream for some richness and to stay moist. It drisseled throughout as baking and turned out wonderful.

          Reply
    5. Shelby

      December 16, 2021 at 1:12 pm

      How many cans of biscuits should I use if I do that instead of homemade?

      Reply
      • Krissy

        December 16, 2021 at 2:01 pm

        24 ounces

        Reply
    6. Kelle Barrientos

      May 21, 2020 at 6:36 pm

      need to instruct approx how long it takes to cook down the applesauce. How does one kn ow if the moisture has all evaporated.

      Reply
      • Krissy

        May 29, 2020 at 7:06 am

        Great question. The time it takes will vary based on the heat (since all stoves cook differently). I cook mine until there is no longer any visible liquid.

        Reply
        • Bev

          November 22, 2022 at 9:42 pm

          I prefer apple butter. Homemade or store bought. Thick and rich apples all ready to go. Fast and easy with good spice flavor but not overpowering.
          Especially during the holidays, big time saver.

          Reply
      • M

        November 06, 2021 at 8:03 pm

        Did you mean to write 1/4 ounce of dry instant yeast? 1 1/4 ounces is more than 3 tablespoons.

        Reply
        • Krissy

          November 14, 2021 at 8:52 am

          YES! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry for that typo. I've updated the recipe.

          Reply
    7. Aubrey Kimmel

      September 24, 2018 at 10:08 am

      5 stars
      I'm going to have to convince my sister to make me some of this for the Fall! This looks so delicious!

      Reply
    8. CArolyn

      September 24, 2018 at 9:57 am

      5 stars
      That glaze, omg it's divine!

      Reply
    9. Jessica

      September 24, 2018 at 8:46 am

      5 stars
      Okay this sounds amazing right now! Thank you!

      Reply
    10. Pam Dana

      September 24, 2018 at 8:40 am

      5 stars
      This looks AH-MAZING! Can't wait to try it!

      Reply
    11. Kim - Today's Creative Life

      September 24, 2018 at 8:29 am

      5 stars
      I've never met a Monkey Bread I didn't LOVE!

      Reply

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