Hour of the Wolf Baking
As the world winds down the year, I find myself awake at an unholy hour; many things are in motion, and many things are unsettled; I give up the efforts to return to sleep, arise, and have coffee. Having coffee, one wants breakfast.
Scrounging the refrigerator, I find two tubes of biscuits and strongly consider the bacon in the meat drawer for biscuits and bacon gravy, but alas, I have been a bit meat-centric of late, so perhaps a sweet breakfast roll.
I can roll the biscuits out and sand them with brown sugar and cinnamon, but not quite what I want. Perhaps a pull-apart bread, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, glazed with butter and brown sugar, then baked. In short, Monkey Bread.
Looking at the glaze and my liquor cabinet, perhaps a jigger of bourbon or a tot of an excellent rum would add that RogueChef twist and make amends for my cheat of using prepared biscuits. There is an Indian rum called Old Monk that has a glorious caramel taste; it would be perfect in this.
From Wikipedia:
Monkey bread (also known by other names including plucking cake, pull-apart bread, and bubble bread) is a soft, sweet, sticky pastry served in the United States for breakfast or as a treat. It consists of pieces of soft baked dough sprinkled with cinnamon. It is often served at fairs and festivals.
What most people know as monkey bread today in the United States is actually the Hungarian dessert arany galuska (“golden dumpling”). Dating back to the 1880s in Hungarian literature, Hungarian immigrants brought this dish with them when they immigrated to America and began introducing it into the country’s food landscape when Hungarian and Hungarian Jewish bakeries began selling it in the mid-twentieth century.
In 1972, a cookbook published by Betty Crocker included a recipe for arany galuska, which they referred to as “Hungarian Coffee Cake”. As it became more popular in America, arany galuska came to be confused with monkey bread in which the balls of dough are not dipped in cinnamon and sugar but only in butter. “Monkey bread” soon became the more common name for this Hungarian Jewish dessert.
Recipes for the bread first appeared in American women’s magazines and community cookbooks in the 1950s. During the 1980s, Nancy Reagan popularized serving monkey bread during Christmas by making it a staple of the Reagan White House Christmas.
Monkey Bread
Equipment
- 1 Bundt Pan 10" ~ 12 cup
Ingredients
- 2 cans Canned Biscuit ~12 oz
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
- 2 tsp Cinnamon Good Stuff
- 1 cup Butter
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 jigger Bourbon or Rum, optional. Old Monk is fantastic here.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350
- Lube the bundt pan with butter
- Open the two cans of biscuits and cut each into quarters
- Combine granulated sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a bowl
- Roll each piece of dough in the sugar-spice mixture to coat.
- In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar and butter. Add ½ cup of the remaining sugar-spice mixture.
- Gently heat to melt butter, bring mixture to a boil, and immediately remove from heat. Stir until sugars have fully dissolved. Do not overcook.
- Stir in bourbon or rum if used.
- Carefully drizzle the warm mixture over the rolled dough balls in the pan.
- Arrange the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes.
- Cooking time will vary depending on the oven and pan used. Continue cooking until the tops are starting to crisp and turn golden brown.
- Use a thermometer to verify that the middle has reached 190°F.
- Allow pan to rest for about 5 minutes, then cover with a large plate and invert.
Notes
Nutrition
Filed
under: American, Baked, Bread, Dessert, European, Jewish, Vegetarian
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