How to make Monkey Bread

I’ve seen Monkey Bread around the internet, but mainly on US blogs and sites. Given that we don’t get Pilsbury Ready-to-Roll Biscuits here, I assumed that I’d have to wait until I was in Arizona next summer to have a go at making them. Then, wouldn’t you know, last week I was in the supermarket and I saw these new Jus Rol Ready to Bake Rustic White Rolls and thought that they might be exactly what I needed.

I love the Ready-to-Roll range. We’ve used the Croissants since I was young and lived in Brussels. We found out that the tins needed to be kept in the fridge after one day hearing popping sounds coming from the kitchen. Further investigation revealed that our recently purchased croissants had exploded in the cupboard, breaking a couple of mugs with the force of the blast and meaning Dad had to take an early wander the following day to the Boulangerie. Lesson learned.

I made the croissants too with some of my young charges and, more recently, with LBG and her Dimpled Sister. They are so simple to use and the children really enjoy feeling like they’ve made something. My Girls love baking anything. And I’m not quite up to the Great British Bake-Off standard of making my own breakfast pastries from scratch. Certainly not first thing in the morning on a weekend.

This particular Saturday morning, I had a particularly challenging walk to look forward to and was under instruction to eat carbs, so I figured it was the perfect time to test out the recipe, and I have to say that it rocked.

To make Monkey Bread, you will need:

1 can of Jus-Rol Bread Rolls

75g caster sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

120g light brown sugar

120g butter

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 2lb loaf tin (it’s really important because the caramel will stick to the tin).

2. Using scissors, snip each of the rolls into several pieces.

3. Put the caster sugar and cinnamon into a large ziplock bag, then toss several of the dough pieces in the bag at a time until they are coated.

4. Lay the coated pieces of dough in the loaf tin, spreading them evenly, and repeat until all the pieces are in the tin. Set aside.

5. Put the butter and sugar in a non-stick pan over a low heat and stir until all the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil. Stir the bubbling caramel constantly for one minute then remove from the heat. It should go without saying that molten sugar is insanely hot, so do take care.

6. Pour the caramel evenly over the top of the dough in the loaf tin and put on a baking sheet in the oven for around 15 minutes until the dough has risen. Keep an eye on it as the sugar will burn quite easily.

7. Once cooked, remove from the oven but leave in the tin for ten minutes or so for it to cool, then serve and stand back. It’ll go very quickly and you don’t want to get caught in the crush!

Oh, and I’ve no idea why it’s called Monkey Bread.