Pecan Monkey Bread

This recipe is from Southern Living Magazine, except I have altered it a bit for this California home. The original recipe used Sorghum syrup and that is not readily available in the Sacramento area. Soooo we have made some substitutions and the results were AMAZING!

Monkey Bread is a great morning muffin with a latte. Make the night before and put in the refrigerator overnight. Bake in the morning.

List get a list of INGREDIENTS:

1 cup chopped pecans, divided
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 loaf of frozen white bread dough, thawed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt

 

Read the directions completely before beginning.

Take your bread out of the freezer. It needs to be defrosted. Here is the brand I used. I used a loaf and a half. The other half I baked and we had with dinner, not bad I might add.

Take your 12 cup muffin pan and coat it well with cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the pecans evenly in muffin tin. I actually made sure the bottom was completely covered. Pecans are our favorite so a few extra is good for the soul. You can also use walnuts if pecans are not your kind of nut.

You need to cut the loafs. You will need 24 pieces. I made each of mine 1/2 inch thick. 

In a bowl melt 4 tablespoons of the butter and throw your dough pieces in there to coat them well. 

In another bowl you will mix together the cup of sugar and 1 Tbsp. of the cinnamon. Take your first 12 pieces of bread and roll them around in the sugar mixture you just made.

Put one in each of your muffin tins. I made mine into round pieces that fit nicely inside the muffin. There is no wrong way to do this.

Once each cup has some dough in it, take the remaining pecans and sprinkle on top of each piece of dough. I had to cut up a few extra pecans but remember, we love them!

Take your remaining 12 pieces of dough from the butter and put them in with the remaining sugar and cinnamon and coat them well. Put on top of the dough pecan muffins. Its like making a pecan sandwich. Just place it there. No need to try and seal or shape in any way.

Now for your sauce. In a saucepan combine your remaining 6 Tbsp. of butter, brown sugar, salt and maple syrup. I used an artisan quality syrup that was bourbon barrel aged. It was well worth it. I just picked it up at Walmart.

Cook your syrup over medium heat until it boils. Cool for about 5 minutes.

The original recipe calls for Sorghum syrup but it is a bit hard to find on the west coast without using Amazon. Even then it is a bit pricey. And now that I used the bourbon barreled maple syrup there is no going back!

You will pour 1 Tbsp. of your syrup mixture over each muffin tin. I had a bit left over and just divided amongst the muffins.

Cover the whole thing loosely with plastic and put into the refrigerator for 8 hours. This is why it is best to make these at night and let sit until the next morning.

Remove the pan from the refrigerator and let sit for 20 minutes. You will notice they got bigger overnight! Preheat your oven for 350°

Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. 

Place a piece of aluminum foil onto of the muffins and invert to get your monkey bread out. Serve warm and enjoy.