This Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread is the perfect breakfast treat to warm up any chilly morning. Soft-baked apples and cinnamon coated biscuit pieces are held together with a sweet brown sugar caramel sauce that makes this recipe the perfect way to start your day.
This monkey bread recipe is a fun twist on the classic version we all grew up on. It’s just as easy as you remember but made a little warmer and a little richer with fresh apples and a heavy dose of cinnamon.
My grandma used to make monkey bread for the grandkids when we stayed over at her house. I remember her letting us hold onto the zip top bag and shake, shake, shaking the bajeezus out of it to get every single piece of dough coated. I also remember regularly burning my tongue on the hot, sticky pieces fresh out of the oven. And eating so much my stomach would ache from the sugar rush.
When testing this autumnal breakfast recipe I did the exact same thing! Burnt tongue, sugar rush, and all.
Ingredients for this recipe:
- Fresh Apples
- Store-bought Biscuit Dough
- Brown Sugar
- Granulated Sugar
- Butter, melted
- Cinnamon
- Apple Pie Spice
- Vanilla Extract
- Salt
How to make Monkey Bread
- Grease a Bundt pan. Liberally. Really give ‘er with that nonstick baking spray.
- Peel and cut the apples. Learn the best method for how to below!
- Make the spiced sugar. Whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, and apple pie spice in a large bowl. Don’t have apple pie spice on hand? That’s ok! Substitute ¼ tsp. of cinnamon or make your own pie spice.
- Cut the biscuits. I do this with a pair of kitchen shears right over the bowl. So easy!
- Coat the biscuits. In a few batches. I know a lot of recipes say to shake the biscuits in a zip top bag, but gently tossing them in the bowl helps to make sure each piece is evenly coated. Plus, it saves plastic!
Cut the apples Make the spiced sugar Cut the biscuits. Coat the biscuits
- Coat the apples. Just like the biscuits!
- Layer the biscuit and apple pieces. In the prepared Bundt pan.
- Make the caramel sauce. By whisking together the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
- Pour the caramel. All over the bread. Admire the gorgeous, golden goodness.
- Bake at 350. For an hour. Cover with foil about 40 minutes in to prevent the top from scorching.
- Remove from the oven. And let the monkey bread rest for 10 minutes. Then!
- Serve the treat. By placing a large plate or platter over the Bundt pan and inverting the whole shooting match. If you sprayed the pan well enough it should slide right out!
Coat the apples. Make the caramel. Pour the caramel over the bread. Bake the monkey bread.
How to peel and cut apples for baking
Until Seth saw me cutting apples and exclaimed, “You use a vegetable peeler?!” I didn’t realize that how I cut apples may be eye-opening for some people. I thought I’d share the fastest, easiest, and safest method I’ve found to quickly peel and cut apples for baking recipes.
- Use a veggie peeler. To get all the skin off the apple quickly and easily. Using a vegetable peeler is safer than a knife and only takes off the thinnest layer of skin from the apple. Those cranking contraptions that secure to the counter are cool and all but can take off way too much flesh when peeling the apple.
- Cut around the core. I always place my apple upright on a cutting board and make a full cut on one half of the apple to the side of the core. Then I rotate the apple and make another cut, and another and another. This results in four pieces of apple and an intact core.
- Cut the pieces into chunks. Do this by cutting the large pieces in one direction first, then rotating the apple 90 degrees, and cutting in the opposite direction.
Use a vegetable peeler. Cut around the core. Cut into slices, then chunks.
Voila! Perfect pieces for your breakfast baking!
Storing Monkey Bread
Monkey bread is one of those breakfast treats that is best served the day it is made. Much like cinnamon rolls or doughnuts, a day old version is still delicious, to be sure, but not quite as soft, chewy, or tender as when fresh. If you're looking to keep leftovers, I recommend covering the entire plate with tinfoil and then placing it inside of a cake carrier for one day. If you don't have a cake carrier, that's just fine, I just like it as an extra layer of protection from the air.
When reheating the leftovers, simply zap in the microwave for 20 seconds, or until warm and soft.
Let's be real though, how many leftovers are you going to have?
Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread
Equipment
- 10 cup Bundt pan
- Kitchen sheers
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. apple pie spice
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 packages refrigerated flaky biscuit dough
- 1 ½ cups apple pieces from about 4 small apples, peeled and cut into chunks
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Liberally spray a Bundt pan with baking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, apple pie spice and salt.
- Using a pair of kitchen shears, cut four of the biscuits into quarters directly into the bowl with the spiced sugar. Gently toss the biscuit pieces to coat and place in prepared Bundt pan.
- Toss ¼ of the apple chunks in the spiced sugar and sprinkle over the biscuit pieces.
- Repeat this process of cutting biscuits, coating in sugar, putting into the pan, and topping with apples three more times.
- Whisk together the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth. Evenly pour over the biscuit and apple pieces in the Bundt pan.
- Bake the monkey bread in the preheated oven for 60 minutes. Cover the top with foil at 40 minutes to avoid scorching.
- Remove from the oven and let rest for ten minutes before inverting onto a serving platter. If properly greased, the monkey bread will easily release from the pan and out onto the platter.
- Serve the monkey bread warm with fresh coffee for a real breakfast treat!
Notes
- Monkey bread is best served the day it is made, but can be covered in foil and stored in an airtight container for up to one day.
- Recipe adapted from Pillsbury.
- Refer to the post for the best way to peel and cut apples.
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