Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread may be a new concept to some folks, but Pillsbury has been promoting this recipe using their biscuits in a tube for a long time.  This is actually my second attempt at making Monkey Bread.  The first attempt tasted good, but I made a big mistake by not using a bundt pan and most of the middle was an unbaked mess. So I had to pull it apart and bake it again.  The "monkey bread" concept was thrown out the window and I morphed it into a delicious Cinnamon-Apple Bread Pudding.  Well, that turned out to be a fantastic mistake so I am not upset about making it. : )  Yesterday I made my second attempt at baking this fun treat.  I had a bundt pan as suggest so off I went.  It's such an easy recipe, but this time I added some chopped apples to give it a real Fall flair.  It was almost magical when I turned the pan over and this amazing looking dessert popped out.  I mean I really said, "Wow... look at that!"  Unfortunately 1/4 of the inside of the monkey bread was still not baked through so I pulled those pieces out and baked them for a little longer.  It still tasted great, I just think it's a flaw in Pillsbury's baking instructions. I am going to give some suggestions for baking at the end of the recipe to avoid this from happening.  So if you find yourself in the possession of some tube Pillsbury biscuits, I urge you to try this recipe, the taste certainly won't disappoint you!

Ingredients:
2 Tubes of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits
1 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of melted butter
1 1/2 tsp of powdered cinnamon
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs of white sugar
2-3 medium granny smith apples (peeled and finely diced)

Optional ingredients: raisins, walnuts.

Directions:

First peel and dice your apples. Then coat the apples with a mixture of 2 Tbs of white sugar and 1/2 tsp of the ground cinnamon.  I did this in a ziploc baggie because it was easy to mix without making a mess.

Cut each unbaked  biscuits into quarters.  Place them into a large ziploc baggie and then add 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1 tsp of ground cinnamon.

Note:  It's best to mix the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl first so it evenly covers the biscuits. 

Lay 1/2 the coated apples at the bottom of the bundt pan.

Then put half the coated biscuits.

Then the 2nd half of the apples.

Finally the last of your coated biscuits.

Melt your butter in the microwave and add your 1 cup of brown sugar.  Stir swell.  Pour over the entire pan of unbaked monkey bread evenly.  Place in the oven at 375 for 30 minutes is what Pillsbury recommends.   I suggest putting in the oven at 350 for about 40-45 minutes.  You may want to cover the top with foil for the first half of baking so the tops don't burn.

This smelled crazy good while baking in the oven. Allow to sit for a few minutes before you invert it onto a plate.  Please be very careful when you invert it.  There will be some melt butter and it's hot.  I suggest you use a very large plate so it doesn't make a mess.   This is not a cake that you cut, you pull the pieces of bread apart (I guess like a Monkey) and eat them... YUM!

Okay... so what did I think of Pillsbury Monkey Bread?  It was incredibly delicious!  I would love to make this for Christmas morning.  It will make the house smell great and how fun to pull pieces of this warm cinnamon/apple bites and eat them.  Plus this is a kid friendly recipe because the kids can help shake the bag of cinnamon and biscuits.  Now the only issue I have with this recipe is the baking time.  I think the next time I will even avoid using the bundt pan (even though it has a beautiful presentation).  I think I will lay it out in a single layer in an 9x13 cake pan and bake at 375 for around 30 minutes and see how it turns out.  I hope you can try out this recipe and you have success with it.  If you do have some pieces that are underdone... remember just pull them out and bake them off for a bit.  It's all GOOD!