I have a friend who does not like for her kids to get messy. Her kids don’t know about condiments…dipping things in ranch dressing, ketchup, barbecue sauce, etc is something they have yet to experience. Jelly on their sandwiches? Forget about it… too messy. Pancakes and waffles simply get butter. There is no such thing as sticky maple syrup allowed in their house. To that friend and any of you reading who are against messy, stop reading now. This post just may put you over the edge.
Don’t get me wrong… cleaning up messes is not my idea of a good time. I would prefer to live in a nice clean world free of sticky chairs and tables. I would love to not have to remind my kids to wash their hands after eating…no worries of messy fingers leaving goo all over the house. It would be a thrill to live life without needing the Tide Stain Stick or Shout Wipes.
Yes, a sparkly clean life would be pleasant, but how much fun is that? No fun at all. When you are messy, it means you have really experienced something to its fullest. You have gumption, passion, and a lot of laundry to do.
The ultimate get sticky experience comes from my kitchen and could help break you of your need for clean. I dare you, Mr and Mrs Clean, to break out of your comfort zone. Live a little…get sticky. Grab a napkin if you must and sit down at the table with a plate of Monkey Bread in front of your family. Resist the urge to grab forks…eat like a monkey using your own hands as your utensils. Once you give this oooey gooey treat a try you will agree with me that staying clean is overrated.
You can find many variations of Monkey Bread on Recipezaar. I jump around from recipe to recipe using my own variations of each (using homemade bread dough when I have time or canned biscuits when I am in a pinch.) Which ever recipe you use, I promise it will get you over the need for clean. Monkey Bread is well worth the mess every time.
Monkey Bread
Ingredients
- 3 cans buttermilk biscuits
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 cup margarine
- 1 cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Cut each biscuit in fourths with scissors.
- Shake biscuits in bag with sugar and cinnamon.
- Layer biscuits into greased tube pan.
- Melt margarine and brown sugar and boil 1 minute.
- Pour over biscuits.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
- Let stand 10 minutes before removing from pan.
I loved monkey bread when the boys were growing up and I don’t think I’ve made it since they went to college. It is one of those show stoppers and oh so good.
How true: gumption, passion, and a lot of laundry to do. Yes and worth every sticky spot!
Beautiful bread!!
Bring on the mess!
I remember that my mom never let me play in the dirt because she was afraid I would get to messy. But boy am I glad I was never denied sticky googy goodness. I might hold it against her to this day (j/k).
Thanks for sharing the tasty pic and recipe.
I heart Monkey Bread! I make it a few times a year and it never lasts more than 2 days (if even) I love the look of yours.. it makes me want to whip up some this evening after work. 😉
xoxo
I LOVE Monkey Bread! I haven’t made it in about 2 years but now I have a craving. Now do I make Monkey or Gorilla Bread???? YUMMY!
My sons love Monkey Bread, it’s pretty much tradition for any family gathering… Of course, not much of it actually lasts until the whole family is there, but you know, we tried!
Kristen,
I’m with you. I don’t have kids but I practically raised my younger sister (she’s 13 now) and I loved to cook/bake things for her to enjoy as a kid. Of course sometimes things got so messy I had to run to the bathtub with her and do some seriously cleaning – but it was so worth it!
This monkey bread looks terrific. I’m a gooey maniac myself.
I love messy and I love monkey bread. This looks amazing!
I LOVE this recipe. It’s so much fun to make and everyone likes it! The recipe I have calls for 4 cans of biscuits but three may actually work better…less dough for the butter to work on!
I agree, sparkly clean is no fun, this monkey bread looks absolutely delicious in its oooey-gooey goodness.
Yum! I made monkey bread for theboys this morning!Works every time!
This is totally making me crave something sticky and sweet!! Another shortcut (if you don’t have time to make the bread) is to use the frozen Rhoads rolls. Yummy!!
"Yes, a sparkly clean life would be pleasant, but how much fun is that? No fun at all. When you are messy, it means you have really experienced something to its fullest. You have gumption, passion, and a lot of laundry to do."
So true, so true!!! I bet your friend never played with peanut butter playdough… so messy, so fun! I’m gonna have to make monkey bread tomorrow… it’s been a while 😉
Hi Kristen! Monkey bread is fun to make – but even more fun to devour – yum!
Hi Kirsten – your monkey bread looks amazing! I was wondering what kind of homemade bread dough you like to use; I thought challah might work particularly well (and I happen to have some dough frozen already – uh oh…)
Ahhh, I’m totally making this! Okay, so maybe not for 6-9 months, or realistically a year (even with the pre-made dough), but I’m saving it to try when I have the time and energy! 🙂
Monkey Bread is not WW friendly. BOOOOOOO! I have bunt pan that is sitting dormant in my cupboards, purchased specifically for Monkey Bread wonderment, not being used.
I used to love when my mom made monkey bread…brings back great memories.
kristen, i love getting messy in the kitchen. sticky, oooy gooy food is a joy and i agree with you that a life that’s not neat and clean is more fun. this bread look fantastic…i just want to grab a piece with my fingers and stuff my face!
hm, my dad makes something very much like this on Christmas mornings. Although, he makes the dough from scratch, letting it rise as we open presents [or now a days since we’re all older, as we sip coffee and/or bloody marys] and then he also adds some candied cherries. i don’t think our recipe is as gooey as yours either, but if its anything like what i think it is, it is DIVINE! and i love this idea of using biscuit cans, that makes this treat that I always think of as a special Christmas thing, more accessible. hmm… do you think adding in some fresh berries before baking would be a good idea?
That sounds so great. I haven’t made it before, but I love the idea of buttermilk biscuts. It sounds like it will be both sweet and savory, and nutty too due to the boiled butter. Too good!
Monkey bread is such a soul satisfying treat. My favorite variation is of the Neiman Marcus monkey bread, which I roll in honey butter and dust with cinnamon sugar before baking. 🙂
I just saw this made for the first time on tv the other. Before that I had never heard of that. Imagine that. Any dessert that is sticky, gooey and you have to pull apart with your hands has to be great. This looks really good.
with this heavenly (and easy) monkey bread, we’d keep licking our fingers… see, all clean!
OMG.
That’s all I can say.
Yummy!!! It’s been years since I have had monkey bread, what a fun (and sticky) memory. 🙂
I’ve never had or even made Monkey bread but I hear it’s fantastic! I will have to try that someday!
Like you, I don’t look forward to a mess, but at the same time, they are kids- you can’t keep them spotless! I always get annoyed whenever my father would get all mad whenever I’d send her out with him with a shirt that had stains on it- hello, she’s a kid! LOL!!!
I LOVE monkey bread! Bring on the mess!
monkey bread is tasty! 😉 but too fatning
This looks like a good recipe. We’ve bought it in the box at Wal Mart before, and it’s awesome. Can’t wait to try this one.
The only thing I do different is mix up some white powder sugar and milk to make frosting to pour over the top, O M G!
Monkey Bread! I only heard about this thing today and found your site as a reference from Wikipedia. Since my food blog is called MonkeyFood I feel obliged to bake this for my reader’s so that it would also become known in Finland. 🙂 Now my only questions regards the amount of the cookies; how much (in grams) is one can?
Thanks in advance
and congrats on a great blog!
Snowy (first time this fall!) greetings from Helsinki
I always make monkey bread when I make cinnamon rolls so that my family can eat that at night and leave the rolls until the moring/