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Caramel Monkey Bread is one of our very favorite brunch foods! Light, fluffy balls of homemade dough covered in rich caramel sauce and crunchy pecans. It’s a perfect centerpiece for Christmas morning or just a lazy weekend morning.
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Caramel monkey bread is made with balls of fluffy homemade dough baked together in a buttery caramel sauce. The pillowy dough puffs up perfectly, while the sauce seeps in every nook and cranny and drops down all over the rolls after it’s baked in a bundt pan. It’s a deliciously sweet and sticky breakfast treat that your whole family will love!
This monkey bread is extra special with caramel sauce. This monkey bread can be made for breakfast, a snack, or dessert after dinner. You will love how easy it is to make and see how quickly it is devoured by friends and family. It really is the best oven-baked monkey bread recipe!
Monkey Bread Dough Ingredients
This easy monkey bread recipe contains pantry staple favorites and comes together quickly and easily. Making the dough and then adding the caramel sauce over top is the perfect combination. Bite-size pieces of dough are pulled apart with a delicious caramel sauce that covers each bite. You will love this flavor combination!
- Yeast – Helps aid in raising the dough, making it thicker and fluffier. I used active dry yeast. It takes an extra minute or two compared to instant yeast.
- Warm water – Yeast and warm water are the best partners when it comes to activating yeast. Make sure that your water is not too hot that it kills the yeast and not too cold that it doesn’t activate the yeast. It is a balance!
- Butter – Soften the unsalted butter at room temperature before using.
- Granulated sugar – Sweetness to the dough giving it that texture and sugary taste in the dough.
- Eggs – Binds the dough together.
- Salt – Helps the dough rise and aids in the flour mixture.
- Flour – Add in all-purpose flour a cup at a time. This will help the dough form and be less sticky.
What you Need for the Caramel Sauce
Mix these three ingredients together in a small bowl to reach the ultimate caramel sauce! It is so simple to make with the most flavor. This sweet and creamy sauce goes perfectly over the monkey bread and gives it that delicious caramel flavor.
- Brown sugar – Sweetness overload, but in a good way!
- Butter – Melted to mix together and make a liquid sauce.
- Heavy whipping cream – This is the thickener and creamer that blends the flavors all together.
Tips and Variations for the Best Monkey Bread
Here are some tips and variations to help you make one of the best monkey bread recipes! It is so easy to make, and with a little help and extra ideas, makes this monkey bread even easier.
- To help with making the dough, use a stand mixer and dough hook to fully combine the dough ingredients. Once the dough is not sticking to the dough hook and shapes a round ball in the mixing bowl, your dough is ready.
- Make this even easier and skip making the dough by using biscuit pieces cut in half using a pizza cutter. This gives the dough a clean, crisp slice through the dough and doesn’t stick to a knife.
- Cooking spray is a MUST before adding the dough to the bundt pan. The buttery brown sugar sauce is ooey and gooey and will need to be able to fall from the pan without sticking once it is baked.
- If you don’t have a bundt pan, you can use loaf pans or a small baking dish to still create the tightness of the monkey bread.
- Add in nuts, walnuts, raisins, or even coat the dough in cinnamon-sugar before adding the caramel sauce over top. All these additions are delicious and will add in extra flavor and texture.
“This is a fun recipe to make with kids. My six and three year olds love to make the dough balls and roll them in the butter and cinnamon and drop them into the pan.”
-Kathleen
Frequently Asked Questions
Monkey bread, pull-apart bread, bubble bread. This delicious pastry has many names, but is most widely known as monkey bread. Because it’s a finger food, you can pick it apart, like a monkey would. No matter what you call it, you’ll love making and eating it.
Yes! If you want to make this monkey bread the night before, make the roll recipe as directed in the recipe card below. Let the dough raise once, then punch down and form into balls. In a bundt pan, assemble the gooey caramel mixture and pour over the rolls, then cover with plastic wrap and store overnight in the refrigerator.
If you’ve made the caramel monkey bread the night before, take the roll out of the refrigerator and let it rise for about an hour in a warm place, then bake as directed. It’s so yummy and gooey. The best breakfast treat!
You can definitely substitute frozen roll dough or even refrigerated biscuit dough in this recipe. Make the buttery sauce as directed below. But for extra light, fluffy, sweet rolls, try making the dough from scratch. It doesn’t take that much more time, and it tastes so much better!
Store any leftover caramel monkey bread in a plastic bag at room temperature. It should stay soft and fresh for about two days. Freezing leftovers is also an option. Monkey bread will keep for about a month in the freezer.
READ NEXT: 33+ Breakfast Ideas
More Delicious Dough Recipes
This easy dough recipe is a tasty start for all types of yummy pastries. The different variations of monkey bread are endless! Try our mouth watering Maple Bacon Monkey Bread. It is to die for! This roll recipe works well for sweet rolls, but can be used in savory bread recipes as well. Try a few of our favorites:
How to Make Caramel Monkey Bread
Caramel Monkey Bread
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 package yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 1/4 cups warm milk
- 1/3 cup butter melted
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 5 cups flour
Caramel Sauce
- 2/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup butter sliced into smaller pieces
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
If you REALLY want it gooey and caramely you can double the sauce
- 1 cup chopped pecans optional
- 1 cup sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 cup butter melted
Instructions
- In a large, bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and half of the flour (2 ½ cups) Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour until it forms a firm dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 7-8 minutes).
- Place in a greased bowl and turn over to get the whole dough ball greasy. Cover and let rise for about an hour or until the dough doubles in size.
- In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, and cream and bring to a boil. Stir for about 3 minutes until it's nice and melted together. Pour half of the caramel sauce into a greased, fluted pan. If you are using pecans, add half of them to the pan as well.
- When the dough is done, punch it down and form it into 35-40 balls. In a pie pan or shallow bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Place melted butter in another bowl. Dip balls in butter, then roll in a cinnamon/sugar mixture. Arrange dough balls into the fluted pan.
- Pour the remaining caramel sauce evenly on top of the dough balls.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown (if they are browning too fast you can loosely cover it with tin foil). Cool for 10 minutes, then turn upside down onto a serving plate.
When the directions were posted, step 5 was repeated in the wrong spot and there is no direction on what to do with the other half of the sauce. I’d really live to know the entire recipe. It looks amazing!
Thank you.
Charlene, the error on this recipe was corrected. Thank you for letting us know!
This is a fun recipe to make with kids. My six and three year olds love to make the dough balls and roll them in the butter and cinnamon and drop them into the pan.
If you add a small cube of cream cheese in the center of your dough balls(Paula Deen recipe) you can call them Gorilla Bread…talk about YUM!!
HOLY SMOKES! That looks so delicious. We could eat this anytime of day!
Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe 🙂
LOVE monkey bread! Looks great.
So.. this is really weird of me, but I noticed you have a stoneware bundt pan. I happen to sell the stuff, so I noticed. 🙂 I thought you might enjoy a crazy good recipe you can make in it, and it's super simple.
Molten Chocolate Cake
Make a devil's food cake mix according to the directions. Spray the pan with nonstick spray. Use an entire can of chocolate frosting and spread it around the whole inside of the pan. MICROWAVE for 12 minutes. It won't look done but don't overcook it. Turn over onto a cookie sheet covered in foil (for easy cleanup). It's TO DIE for.
*PLEASE don't anyone try this with a metal pan. You can only microwave cuz it's stoneware.
If you try it, tell me how you like it.
imgone2mexico@hotmail.com
I hope you don't think I'm a weirdo. Haha!
Once you’ve placed the dough balls in the pan do you have to let them rise again. If you do, would you be putting the other half of the the caramel on just before baking in the oven.
They don’t need to rise a second time.
You just received major points in my book for using homemade dough for this monkey bread. Oh, and it looks SO delicious!
The recipe looks delicious! Can you please tell me what kind of tube pan you use? Thanks for the wonderful recipes as I have tried several.
My husband was just reminiscing about the monkey bread my mom use to make at Christmas time. Yours looks scrumptious.