Monkeying Around with Monkey Bread

When developing a recipe, I look at several different recipes and make a combination of them all.  I did this today with a combination of several different monkey bread recipes to find an easy way to replicate one I had as a child.  I remembered the butterscotch pudding addition and how rich and sweet it tasted.  The pudding adds a great balance to the cinnamon flavor and accents the butter flavor. It also makes the texture much smoother & creamier than most monkey bread. This is not the final recipe, but more about the process and what I will include and exclude as I continue to experiment.  (It's tough, but my taste testers haven't complained yet)

So, here's what I learned...

1. The BREAD.  There are 2 popular ways to truly do this. Canned biscuits, or frozen yeast roll dough.  Biscuits are faster and don't require pre work.  Frozen yeast roll dough is richer and is great for premaking the night before.  

I used canned biscuits for this one and turns out that the 4 pack of 7.4 oz cans was just right to fit in a bundt pan.  

I pulled each small biscuit into 2 pieces and then rolled it in the sugar mixture.

2. The Sugar Mixture. I used 1 cup of brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 package butterscotch pudding mix.  Mixed all of these together in a plastic bag & dropped each of the dough balls into it before placing into a greased tube pan.

3. The Glaze.  Mix remaining sugar mixture with 1 cup melted butter and 2 T of milk.  Pour over sugar covered dough in tube pan.  

THE LESSONS. Again, don't use instant pudding mix, it makes it gummy.  Increase the milk for better coverage.  Layer the glaze & dough in the tube pan to make sure glaze gets all the way to bottom (which becomes the top when inverted onto plate). 

4. Baking.  Baked at 350 for 30 mins which was perfect.  Let cool for about 5 mins and invert onto serving plate.

So, the recipe is technically in the notes above.  But, realistically I think you could add a box of butterscotch pudding (not instant) to your favorite recipe and it would work.  Next time, I will be using slow cook pudding, frozen roll dough, layering, and who knows, I might just go nuts and add nuts!