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When I began making this tasty treat, my 4 year old son believed that it was invented by monkeys in their tree ovens. While its amusing to think thats true, I realized there probably was a more believeable origin. My search was widespread and did not lead me to a definite answer. From what I've learned, this recipe was very big in the 60s and 70s, when bakeries across America began making a sweet pull-apart bread called Monkey Bread. Several variations of the recipe evolved and homemakers copied and made the dish often. Many adults I've spoken with have fond memories of making Monkey Bread as a child. I only recently discovered this recipe and it's quickly become a favorite in my household. I tried my best to find out why the dish was called Monkey Bread of all things. The only reference I could find to Monkey Bread is the fruit of the baobab tree (found commonly in Africa). It's a versatile fruit. It can be eaten or made into a drink. It's flesh is dried and made into flour. It's leaves are dried and used as seasoning. And even the pulp of the tree itself is eaten at times. This fruit is a commonly food of monkeys in the region, but due to its versatility, is a staple of the humans in the region as well. This was very fascinating to learn, but did not get me closer to knowing the history of this sweet, American breakfast cake/dessert. You can make this recipe from scratch, basically making a biscuit or bread dough to start with. It works well with bread machine dough (or so I've been told). The easiest, and most common way, is to use store-bought refrigerated biscuits. It seems that as many recipe varieties there are, there are also measurement differences. Since this is a large family recipe site, I've come up with a good base recipe which can be doubled or tripled with ease. All of the proportions of the variations are also based on the use of this base recipe. Of couse, as with most good cooks, you can adjust the ingredients to your taste. Monkey Bread Ingredients: 1 can of Jumbo biscuits 1/4 cup of sugar 2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 stick butter 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional) Tradition Preparation: Cut biscuits into quarters. Mix sugar and cinnamon in bowl. Coat biscuit pieces in mixture. Grease a bundt pan liberally and drop biscuit pieces into pan, layering them (do not press). Add nuts between layers. Melt butter over low heat and add remaining sugar mixture. Pour over biscuits. Cook in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until done. Alternate Preparation: Casserole/Cake Pan: Follow above directions of preparation. Grease casserole/cake pan. Place coated biscuit in pan, so they are loosely touching each other. Sprinkle nuts over top. Pour butter mixture over the biscuit pieces, making sure all pieces are covered. Cook in 350 degree over for 30-40 minutes until done. Cookie Sheet: Follow above recipe for cutting and coating biscuit pieces. Once finished, press bottom of pieces into chopped nuts. Place on greased cookie sheet, leaving space between each piece. Prepare butter mixture and spoon over each piece. Cook in 350 degree over for 20-30 minutes or until done. (Note: This variation produces a crispier version of the recipe, with each individual piece browning completely around.) Note: It's important that any way you cook this, that you remove the cooked item from the pan as soon as it's cool enough to. If it is allowed to cool completely and hardened, you are going to have quite a bit of trouble cleaning the pan. Recipe Variations: -Add 1/8 cup of instant butterscotch pudding mix to dry cinnamon and sugar mixture before coating biscuits. You can use a full package of the pudding in place of the cinnamon and sugar. (add any one or all of these to the butter/sugar/cinnamon when melting): -1/4 cup of brown sugar -1/4 cup evaporated milk -1/4 cup of prepared (liquid) coffee -1/4 tsp of vanilla extract **my secret ingredient, haven't found a version using it...yet If you have a variation you'd like to add, let us know. And, if you happen to find out WHY it's called Monkey Bread, drop me a line with the information and your reference source. I'll happily add it to this article and give you "detective" credit. Comments page 0 of 0
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