When I see cake pans at the thrift store, I can’t resist picking them up, even if I have nothing in mind to do with them. This bunny-shaped pan was $2 at Goodwill and has been gathering dust in my basement. I decided to break it out to make the kids a special Easter treat.
Our Easter tradition usually consists of my homemade cinnamon rolls, but I thought it would be fun to do something a little different this year. I remembered this great little recipe for homemade monkey bread and also know that it happens to be one of my husband’s favorite childhood treats so I thought I would give this recipe a spin.
I opt for the lazy version though and prefer making things in my handy little bread machine, so I modified the recipe to put my little appliance to work and thought I would share my version here.
- ¼ cup water, warm (100-110F)
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- ¾ cup milk, warm (100-110F)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg (beaten)
- 3 – 3½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2½ tsp active dry yeast (.25-oz)
- Sugar Mixture:
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 1½ tbsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ cup butter, melted
- Lightly grease a standard 10-in bundt pan with vegetable oil or any cake-shaped pan. Set aside.
- In a microwavable bowl, combine the water, milk, and butter and microwave it for one minute (or just until warm). Pour this into the bottom of your bread machine. Add the egg and vanilla next. Add the flour, salt, sugar, and then finally the yeast. Run the Dough cycle on your bread machine and let it run through the entire cycle until it beeps.
- Turn dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and gently deflate so that dough is relatively flat (maybe ½-3/4 inch thick) Using a knife or a bench scraper, cut off small pieces of dough to form ½ to 1-inch balls. As you cut each piece of dough, roll it into a ball in the palms of your hands. Dunk each ball in butter, use the fork to remove it and transfer it to the sugar mixture to be thoroughly coated. Place all coated dough balls into prepared bundt pan.
- Once all balls have been coated and places in the pan, cover the pan lightly with plastic wrap and let bread rise for 60 minutes, until almost doubled in size. I covered this with plastic wrap and then popped it in the fridge overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350F when you are ready to bake it.
- If it is in the refrigerator, pull it out a half hour before and let it rise on the kitchen counter before baking. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Bread will spring back when lightly pressed. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a serving platter.
- Eat immediately (or reheat leftovers), as the bread is best served warm and gooey.
It looks great! I’ve never made monkey bread, but I’ve always wanted to try it.
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This is so incredibly cute! And, oh my word, it looks delicious. That pic made this pregnant mama’s mouth water…
Thanks so much for sharing!
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Love it. Love it. Love it. I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for fun cake pans like this!
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Clever! Looks delish! LOVE monkey bread!!! Bookmarking now
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Wow, looks yummy!
Hope you’re feeling better by now!
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I’ve only ever made monkey bread with the canned biscuits, definitely not my fav. I’m going to have to try your version soon. Like this weekend! Looks like some goey goodness for breakfast.
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Much better, thanks for asking! It was a rough weekend, but we are on the mend!!
You guys will have to try this and keep your eyes peeled for those cake pans- they are a fun little thrift find!!
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Wow, thanks so much!! I have been looking for a “from scratch” version of this for so long — now I can make a low-sodium version!
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What a sweet bunny treat! Perfect for the Easter weekend! I too have fond memories of my girlfriend’s mother making this treat for us as kids.
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That bread look awesome! Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
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mmm
looks yummy! I will have to give that a go next holiday.
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I made this monkey bread for our Christmas morning treat today; it was totally amazing! Making the dough from scratch made all the difference. And the caramelized "goo" was divine. Everyone in my household loved this! It's going to be our new recipe for Christmas morn…thank you for the great recipe! Merry Christmas to you and your family!
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How cute it that! Too bad I can’t reach through my screen and take a bite.
.-= Kim´s last blog ..Ole! Flat Out Chicken Burrito =-.
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Looks yummy…now I must make some monkey bread!!! ;D
.-= Jenn´s last blog ..Fast n Easy Trail Mix Cookie Bar Recipe =-.
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This brings back memories. My mom used to make monkey bread growing up. I haven’t had it in years.
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This was one of my favorites that my uncle made when I was a kid and we visited, except not in the bunny shape.
And now you’ve got me thinking if I could take this dough and the filling on the lemon rolls I just posted and kind of morph them together somehow.
By the way on the bread machine comment you posted, I bet you totally could do it. You would just add all the dough ingredients in the order that your machine’s manual says and do the dough cycle. I’ve done that so many times with non bread machine recipes and it works great!
.-= Katie @ goodLife {eats}´s last blog ..Meyer Lemon Sticky Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze =-.
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HI….looks beautiful and would be tasty aswell i would love to make them at home with the help of your recipi thanks alot
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bunny bread just in time for Easter- what a great idea- i have seen this as “brains” for my sons science fair but i like the bunny bread name way better
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