Granny’s Monkey Bread is a sweet, gooey, sinful cinnamon sugar treat that will be loved by young and old alike.
Be careful, its dangerously addictive.
Monkey Bread can be prepared the night before so your kids can wake up to the heavenly smell of taste bud heaven, or, because it is an easy monkey bread recipe, you can also put everything together in the morning. There are lots of variations of monkey bread out there, and you can go all out and make your monkey bread with dough from scratch, or you can cheat like I do and make it with cans of biscuit dough.
If you’re looking for a rich, heavenly, naughty breakfast, you should probably make some homemade biscuits and gravy while you’re at it! And since most people love eating monkey bread on holiday mornings, you might want to think about making an overnight breakfast casserole. Better throw in some fruit for good measure!
What is monkey bread?
- Monkey bread is known by many names including: monkey puzzle bread, sticky bread, African coffee cake, golden crown, pinch-me cake, and pluck-it cake
- It is a soft, sweet, sticky pastry served in the United States for breakfast or as a treat.
- It consists of pieces of soft baked dough sprinkled with cinnamon. Oh, and lots and lots of butter.
Every summer, this self proclaimed foodie is lucky enough to spend a week at Sunriver Resort in Central Oregon with her in-laws. My husband has a huge family so there are a lot of people. Organized chaos, if you will. Want to know what our family’s number one vacation rule is? Eat well. That doesn’t mean eat healthy, that means enjoy everything you eat. That means the normal day to day rules we typically live by including portion control and trying to eat a balanced ratio of lean protein, fiber, and healthy fats goes out the window. One of the many reasons I like to go on vacation as often as possible. This recipe for monkey bread should become part of everyone’s vacation plans. If you’ve never experienced Monkey Bread, you haven’t lived. Its sweet. Its gooey. Its incredibly naughty. Its my favorite.
Every year my mother-in-law, i.e. Granny, spoils us with an abundance of naughty treats. We have an endless amount of homemade cookies, sweet breads like zucchini chocolate chip, fruit pies, and Monkey Bread. When I do breakfast for a crowd, I tend to go a little overboard and make something grand like blueberry peach stuffed french toast or some chocolate Belgium waffles. I’m also very fond of my savory breakfasts like classic eggs benedict. But vacation food needs to be easy and extra naughty. When we’re on vacation and Granny has a dozen kids running around begging for a treat, she throws together this Monkey Bread in minutes and pleases the entire crowd all at once. I’m pretty sure I gained a pound a day during our trip this year, much to my husband’s dismay.
This easy monkey bread one of those treats that’s super easy to make and your kids will enjoy preparing it even more than you will. Want to be a rock star parent? Next time you go camping, delight your kids when you make Monkey Bread on the campfire in the dutch oven. Can you imagine a better treat to wake up to? How about having a batch of this monkey bread on Christmas morning? If your kids are anything like mine, they’ll be torn between ripping open their presents or digging into the monkey bread.
How to make Monkey Bread:
- I find that this monkey bread cooks best in a bundt pan. I’m sure you can use any other kind of baking dish, but the bundt pan gives it a great shape
- Granny’s Monkey Bread recipe calls for store bought biscuit tubes. I get a lot of questions from readers outside of the US because I guess buttermilk biscuit tubes only exist here (other countries – I’m jealous). Anyway, you can make this monkey bread recipe with your favorite bread dough. I agree biscuit dough is best because of the high fat content, but pizza dough or dinner roll dough would work as well.
- Use the kids! Although the heating and melting of the butter should be handled by the adults, let the little ones cut the dough with kitchen scissors and dip each dough ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture!
The full monkey bread recipe is below, and if you want to watch me re-create this gooey masterpiece, be sure to watch the VIDEO below!
Granny's Monkey Bread
Ingredients
- 3 8 ounce packages buttermilk biscuits
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup butter 2 sticks
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Instructions
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Prepare Bundt pan by heavily greasing with butter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
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Cut each biscuit into four equal sized pieces.
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Combine 1 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a bowl or plastic bag. Drop roll the pieces of dough in the sugar cinnamon mixture and gently arrange them into the prepared Bundt pan.
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In a small sauce pan, combine 1/2 cup of the remaining sugar cinnamon mixture with 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 cup butter. Bring mixture just to a boil and then immediately remove from heat. Carefully drizzle the mixture over the rolled dough balls in the Bundt pan.
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Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. This time may vary depending on oven and pan used. Continue cooking until tops are starting to crisp and turn golden brown.
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Allow pan to rest for about 5 minutes, then cover with a large plate and invert bread. To eat, pull desired amount off with your fingers and enjoy the gooey sweet sinful treat.
Recipe Notes
To prepare the night before, follow all steps except the baking part. Cover and refrigerate. Bake as directed in the morning (may need a few extra minutes if its cold).
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I can’t say I’ve spent much time in central Oregon (we went camping near La Pine once, and it was a very dusty affair), even though I’ve lived in both the Willamette Valley and eastern Oregon, but it sounds like your family has the right idea about vacation food. 😉
This looks delicious and if the Bf and I weren’t starting a special diet on his doctor’s recommendation, I’d be incredibly tempted to go buy the stuff I need right now. lol
You could always make it for “a friend”. 🙂
have you ever end a cream to either dip have or even drizzle it on…..yummy….it becomes like a Cinnabon
Mercy.
I have never made monkey bread before! This looks and sounds seriously delicious… thanks for the recipe, it’s one I have saved to recreate!
I used to make it every holiday, but now that the family has moved away and have their own families, I miss making it. One of my fondest memories is helping my grandmother make monkey bread. Her recipe is still the best I’ve ever eaten, and a wonderful dessert for Christmas holidays.
How’s your grandmother’s recipe different
My family LOVES monkey bread. It’s our go to breakfast while opening gifts on Christmas morning. Love your recipe!
Half the fun of Christmas morning is the eating part!
Oh this monkey bread looks so good and your pictures are amazing. Now I’m hungry.
I love making people hungry!
It sure looks gooey. I would dig into it right now, despite the last time here. The pics speak for themselves! Amazing!
We often add raisins and nuts. Once I even added chopped apples. Delicious and easy!
Yum! Apples and nuts would be awesome. I love raisins, but only plain or in oatmeal, not in baked goods. I’m weird like that. 🙂 Krissy
Do you see any reason why I couldn’t put this together the night before, then pop it into the oven in the morning? I’d like to have this for TGiving morning, but that 20-pound turkey has to go in at 7am. I’d love to pop this in the oven, wrestle the bird for awhile, then reward myself with cinnamon monkeys. 🙂
You know, I’ve never tried doing that, but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work. Please let me know if it still turns out! -Krissy
Hi Krissy, I have a recipe similar to this and I prepare it the night before and put it in the oven Cbristmas morning. It works perfectly. Merry Christmas!!
What a great tradition!
I’ve used nuts and coconut too and it’s AWESOME
Debbie, Great suggestion! Krissy
I LOVE monkey bread! So delicious and so easy! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Krissy! This looks ah-mazing! I attempted this dish this morning and after letting it rest I flipped onto a serving tray. But the biscuits aren’t done they still look very dough-y. What’s your recommendation…. Should I lengthen the time or turn up the oven heat? Thanks for your amazing recipe!
Oh no! Sorry to hear that! I would definitely just increase the cooking time as opposed to the temp next time. -Krissy
Awesome! Thanks for the recommendation.
Hi! I just tried the recipe and it was very tasty, but I was wondering what size biscuit tubes you use? I ended up going with the 10 biscuit/7.5 oz tubes and it worked out okay.
Yep – that’s the size! Glad you liked it. -Krissy
Made this today and it turned out perfect!!! Everyone loved it. I had to cook it about 5 min. longer but besides that followed the recipe as written.
Did anyone else have the issue of 3 biscuit containers being too many? My pan overflowed causing sugar and biscuits to overflow onto the bottom of my oven and then only the pieces on the bottom of the bundt pan were cooked. Are there types of biscuits to stay away from? (Expanding ones?) I bought the buttermilk ones. Just seeing if anyone else had this issue. I’m planning on making again with only 1 biscuit package. It was delicious but the numbers were off for me.
Hmmm, sorry to hear that Alison. This was one of my most popular posts (it went kind of viral) and I haven’t gotten any feedback from anyone that this has happened. You used a bundt pan with the skinnier biscuit tubes, right?
I have made this recipe twice now and LOVED it both times. However, I have had a really big issue with it not coming close to cooking all the way within the 30 minutes. Both times were with different ovens so I know it wasn’t a slight variation in oven temps. Have you ever had an issue with this?
Hmmm, haven’t had an issue as far as timing, but like you said, oven temps are all over the place. Plus, I’m sure a lot has to do with the size of the pan, etc. We’ll be making it again this summer on our annual trip so I’ll see how it does in the oven at the rental house. Thanks! Krissy
I also found that 30 minutes is not nearly enough time.
Hi Heather, thank you for the comment. I just updated the recipe to state that it might take more time depending on oven temp and pan. Monkey bread should be crispy on top and a deep golden brown before removing from oven. -Krissy
I also had the issue of this over flowing in my oven and then not cooking all the way through. I had to cook it much longer than the recipe specified in order for the middle not to be doughy. I think I’ve figured out that I bought the large tubes of biscuits instead of the skinny ones. Might I suggest that you specify the correct size biscuit tube in the recipe? It tasted great in the end, but made a mess out of my oven and took twice as long to cook.
Oh dear, I’m sorry about that Michelle. Yes – we use the skinny biscuit tubes. I’ll update the recipe now. Thanks for letting me know and I’m glad it turned out in the end… despite the mess. -Krissy
I just made this and cooked it as the recipe says and in a standard bundt pan. It has been in the oven for over an hour and is still not done. How long is the correct cook time??
Hi Lauren, Every oven is different. The Monkey Bread should be cooked all the way through and not doughy, but it will be very soft due to the large amounts of butter. I hope it ended up working out for you? Thanks! Krissy
This looks DIVINE! I have a couple of questions though 🙂 I’m from Canada & have searched high & low for the skinny tube biscuits. No luck 🙁 I bought 2 big ones that equal to 24 oz (instead of three 8 oz ones), will that be ok? Also, I couldn’t find buttermilk ones so I did country style. Hope the outcome is as fab as yours.
Hi Amy, YES – all of that should work perfect. Hope you enjoy! Krissy
I didn’t have a problem with it overflowing but I agree with the others who found that 30 minutes was nowhere near long enough. The outer edges along the top were wonderful but the rest was very, very raw. I cooked it for around 50 minutes at 350 before I had to give up or I’d be late for work. Surely this isn’t a temp variation issue…did anyone else try it at a higher temperature? I used a silicone bundt pan. Anyone else use silicone? Is that a contributing factor?
I’m not sure, but I’ll make some this week using my silicone bundt pan to find out. Krissy
I’ve had a problem with the cooking temp too as well as the timing. I upped it to 375 and timing is closer to 50 minutes. We’ve been waiting, drooling, for an hour now. My mom made this every year for Christmas morning, but my 2.5 year old helped me make it for our blizzard day off! So excited to blow his tastebuds!
This sounds amazing!!! Too bad I can’t make this. I live in Australia and we don’t have the biscuit tubes. I’m so annoyed by that as there are so many recipes I wanna make that use them. You wouldn’t happen to have a recipe I can use to make them from scratch?
Hi Carin, It might be a good thing that you guys don’t have biscuit tubes. 🙂 Instead of from-scratch biscuit dough, I think homemade cinnamon roll dough might work best. Krissy
Hi Krissy,
I so badly want to make this for Christmas morning, but you do not get ready-made biscuits in South Africa (It’s completely unknown here).
I found a great online recipe, and want to make this with fresh dough.
Will it work? or would i have to do something different?
Thanks!
Maggie
Hi Maggie, Unfortunately I don’t think the premade tube biscuit dough is that similar to fresh, homemade biscuit dough. I think a homemade cinnamon roll dough would work better. Good luck! Krissy
Made this delicious recipe this morning. I bought Grands large biscuits by accident, but decided to use them anyway. I cut them into 6 pieces instead of 4. I baked it for 32 minutes just to make sure it was done. The top layer of biscuits came out a little crunchy, but that just added to the taste if you ask me. I will definitely make this again!
Salted or unsalted butter?
I don’t think it really matters for this particular recipe. – Krissy
Unsalted. That applies to any recipe unless they specifically state salted.
I made this for the first time yesterday, Christmas morning, and it turned out AMAZING! I don’t know why other people are having issues with the bake time because 30 minutes was PERFECT, anything longer would have been too much! Maybe they are using the larger biscuits?? Not sure but wanted to say mine turned out even better than expected and will be a new Christmas morning staple in my house. Thank you!
Thanks for the comment, Dana! I like the good feedback. 🙂 Krissy
I don’t have a bundt pan can I use a bread pan?
You sure can! -Krissy
I use my angel food cake pan
Love it! Used this recipe numerous times and it’s always delicious! My kids beg me to make it but I usually save it for special mornings. Thanks for sharing!
If you want a real morning treat, you’ve got to make Bubble Bread
with Bridgeford bread roll pieces, butterscotch pudding mix, butter cinnamon and
pecans. Sits out all night uncovered, bakes in forty min. In the am. No doughy chewy
biscuit business. Over thirty years for every holiday!!!
That sounds pretty awesome! Krissy
Just a note to people wanting to make a recipe like this. We have made basically the same recipe since I was little. We didn’t make the sauce in a separate pan, we just melted the stuff in the bottom of the bundt pan and then put the pieces on top of it to cook. We also varied from using biscuits to using frozen bread dough that we thawed. I didn’t notice a difference in taste or anything if we used bread dough or biscuit dough.
I just wanted to offer these ideas. 🙂
I just finished making this recipe and it is absolutely fantastic! Its the first monkey bread recipe I’ve found that I like. So easy to make, followed the recipe to the dot and it worked out perfectly. Thank you so much for this great recipe!
Yay!!!!! Thanks for coming back to the blog to let me know! -Krissy
If i only have one can of biscuits how should i cut the rest of the recipe?
Hi Cheyna, If you only have one 8oz tube, you’ll need to divide the recipe by three since you need 24oz. I would also use a mini loaf pan instead of a bundt pan. -Krissy
I made this recipe yesterday and it was a big hit. Very tasty! My kids are already begging for more! Thank you!
If I’m planning to prepare the night before, should I wait before adding all the ingrediate a together? Will the butter sitting over night cause it be to mushy?
Thank you,
Lorie
I think you can prepare it all the way up to the point where you stick it in the oven. -Krissy
Made this recipe at 10pm… Delicious…10/8/2016
The kids beg for this I will be adding it to my Christmas brunch. I drizzel this with cream cheese icing amazing
Making this tonight for friendsgiving! Has anyone tried using pillsbury cinnamon rolls instead of regular biscuits??
I haven’t, but that sounds amazing. -Krissy
ty for sharing made this with my mom then she passed away and never found the recipe now i remember doing this with her when i was young thanks for the memories back.
There are so many adds on the websites that it is very hard to read
I’m sorry… its sort of a necessary evil. If I didn’t have the ads, I wouldn’t be able to produce any content. Hope you’re still able to enjoy the recipes and photos! Krissy
What temperature do you bake this at
This sounds delicious. I’m going to make it. Ok sorry your husband was dismayed at your weight gain. It is okay to gain weight. How much did he gain. It is not okay for him to treat you that way. It is abusive!!
I made this last weekend for a baby shower. It was a HUGE hit. I placed tinfoil on with about 10 min or so left to avoid burning the top. Worked like a charm. This is going to be a new brunch staple. It is AMAZING. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Do you think I can put half of the butter/sugar mixture in the bottom of the bundt pan, layer the biscuit pieces and then drizzle the rest of the butter/sugar on top? I’m trying to go for a crusty top layer once the bread is inverted out of the pan. Thanks!
I’ve never made it like that. If you try it, will you let me know if it turns out?
I know this is an old recipe but i found it and just had to try it. Followed all of the directions to the T and it turned out complete perfection. Was such a huge hit. Wrote it down for the next time. Cant wait to try it around the holidays!!
Thanks for your comment, Amy! Glad you loved it!!!
It’s in the oven right now its been in for over the 30 min time listed and I took it out and the dough is still raw in the middle. The top is crisp and looks right but the middle doesn’t. I followed the directions to a tee and everything else looks good beside the middle is still raw
Hi KJ, I’m sorry to hear that! Sometimes variances in the way ovens cook as well as the size of the bundt pan means that my exact cooking time might not work for others. Hopefully it turned out!
Thanks for sharing! I followed the recipe as is and it turned out great!!
This is my go to recipe for pot lucks and Christmas morning and it’s always a hit. Occasionally I find the caramel is gritty and after baking the butter has separated and leaves a greasy puddle. Any suggestions? It doesn’t always happen and I follow the recipe as printed every time!
Occasionally that has happened to me too. I think it has to do with the step when you heat the mixture together. I believe it needs to be just hot enough to dissolve the sugar. Too hot and it will crystalize. What do you think?
Do you mean a full, rolling boil or boil just around the edge of the pan?
A gentle boil.