When we were in high school, my mom started making this delicious cinnamon pull-apart bread. Like, it was legendary amongst my friends. I asked her if I could have the recipe to make here, and she said she’d have to think about it and write it down. The recipe was IN HER BRAIN.
She wrote it all down for me, and then as I was making the bread, I went to open up the package that the biscuit rolls came in. There, on the package, was a very similar recipe. I called my mom and questioned her on this. “Hmmm…I suppose I could have gotten it from there. But I’ve altered it!”
I felt like Phoebe when she found out her Great Great Grandmother was NOT Nesley Toulhouse.
*EDITED TO ADD* I put this at the bottom of the post, but I’ll put it here too: I know a lot of you are like, “oh, this is monkey bread!” Yay, that’s cool! In my family, we called something ELSE monkey bread. It’s savory and so beloved in my family that sometimes my cousin Kathleen half-jokingly refuses to come to family events if monkey bread isn’t going to be served. I’ll share that recipe sometime. **
Here is my mom’s slightly different version of the yummy breakfast or dessert.
Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread
You need:
4 packages of buttermilk biscuit rolls
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Open up the biscuit containers. Mine almost never open when I pull the tab, so I end up smacking the container against the counter:
The biscuits exploded. Luckily, no biscuits were hurt.
Using kitchen scissors, cut each biscuit into fourths.
Mix up the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a plastic bag.
Next, melt together the butter and brown sugar until runny.
Drizzle some of the brown sugar mixture on the bottom of the bundt pan.
Take a few biscuits at a time and put them in the sugar/cinnamon bag, then shake to coat the biscuits.
SHAKE IT!
Layer the coated biscuits onto the bottom of the bundt pan, making sure the biscuits slightly overlap.
Once you’ve completed the bottom layer, drizzle more brown sugar mix on top.
Repeat the biscuit/brown sugar steps twice more, until you have three layers of each. Don’t fill to the top – the biscuits will rise when you bake them!
Bake the biscuits at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown. While they cook, lick the spoon. It’s required.
When the biscuits are done, CAREFULLY flip the bundt pan contents onto a platter. Use oven mitts, yo.
Mmmmmm….so yummy!
My mom, the “originator” of the recipe, joined Mike for the taste test.
They liked it! And ate almost all of it in one sitting. So delicious.
EDITED! My mom is now claiming she got this recipe from a friend. SURRRRRRRRRRE Mom. A lot of you said you call this monkey bread, but we have something else in my family we call monkey bread! It’s savory. I’ll have to share it sometime!
- 4 packages of Buttermilk Biscuit Rolls
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- Open biscuits and cut each one into quarters.
- Put granulated sugar and cinnamon into a bag and mix together.
- Melt together the butter and brown sugar until runny.
- Spoon some of the brown sugar mixture over the bottom of the bundt pan.
- Put some of the cut biscuits into the bag of cinnamon and sugar, shake well.
- Place a layer of biscuits along the bottom of the bundt pan, slightly overlapping each piece.
- Repeat until you have three layers of biscuits.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and immediately flip onto a platter.
- Allow to cool slightly, then serve!
Ms. A says:
We call that monkey bread!
Susan says:
LOL – I see that a lot know this as “monkey bread”. Funny how the name differs in different areas of the country but it is definitely the same yummy goodness.
Rebecca says:
Yes, that is monkey bread and it’s amazing! the more butter/sugar you use, the better
Ashley says:
Those look yummy! And you totally made my day with the Phoebe reference!!! I think of her everytime I bake cookies – and yes, I know it’s sad.
Tara says:
You’re not alone–I think of Phoebe when I make cookies too.
Lilly says:
um, YUM!!!!!! also, i think it’s monkey bread on the east coast
Jessi @ Quirky Cookery says:
Mmmm, monkey bread!
Jen says:
My grandma, who is now passed on, made this for us when we would leave her house to begin the long journey from Iowa to Michigan. It reminds me of her only she called it Monkey Bread.
Thank you for posting this and letting me relive some wonderful memories.
Jennie says:
your kitchen is SO FANCY!!! gityerbakeON.
KP says:
My mom had the same recipe! And yup, we definitely called it Monkey Bread. We actually tried to cut slices of it sometimes… but it always fell apart. Much better to just pull off bites of deliciousness one by one.
Kari weber says:
You know what else is good? Taking a small cube of cream cheese and covering it in two quarters of biscuit. Then do that again and again until your pan is full, doing all the yummy sugar and butter stuff too, of course!
Jean says:
I read ahead to see if anyone else suggested the cream cheese. It’s so good with the cream cheese added.
Jen says:
What I did was make cream cheese frosting. The recipe called for 1 cup sugar, 8 oz *softened* cream cheese, and 2 tablespoons milk. Whip it completely, and add it on top of your bread right out of the oven.
I noted that it was too much icing. You’d do better with just using half of it, and having it available for anybody wanting more.
Ella says:
Monkey bread! My grandmother used to make this! Yum!
Tara says:
Mmmmm…some of my best memories of high school.
Annie says:
My aunt makes a very similar dish- she calls it ‘monkey bread’ and it’s delicious! I’m glad to have the recipe now!
Mary Ann says:
Mmmm we call it Monkey Bread too. I always make it with my class the first week of school – it’s sooooooooooo good! We cut the biscuits in 1/4’s , roll them, dip them in melted butter then into the sugar cinnamon mixture and drop into a well greased bunt pan – I just discovered you can make little individual ones by cooking them in muffin tins – more crispy parts that way. I can smell them from here.
Anna says:
I made a savory version of monkey bread for my Super Bowl party last year that was chock full of bacon, butter, and cheese. Oh my gosh, I had forgotten about that until just now!
Janet says:
Yes we call that Monkey Bread and it is simply DIVINE!!!
Jenn says:
Thanks so much for posting your recipes over the past few months! Every single one is something I want to try!
Erin says:
yeah, this is monkey bread.
felt like that needed to be said.
Heather says:
In my family we call something ELSE monkey bread! Funny.
Erin says:
i was just teasin since so many people had said it. you call any food you want by any name you want!
Noelia says:
I can’t eat the cake… but oh boy, Annie stole the whole recipe!
She looks so cute!
Meghan says:
Yup, Monkey Bread here too! It was the first thing my husband ever baked for me (um, and it was like last week…and we’ve been married for over five years…and, I digress…)
Anyhoo…delish!
Laura says:
Definitely Monkey Bread in the south. It is YUMMY!
Rachelle Sung says:
Why is licking the spoon important in preparing this? heheheh don’t bother answering it . I love the recipe and asked my husband to buy me the ingredients that I need to make this delicious recipe of yours. My kids will surely love it too.. I also like the shaking part of preparing this awesome food.
cassie says:
oh god as much as I love cinnamon gooey, I *LOVE* savory breads even more. I will take a cheddar bay biscuit or garlic knot et al any day over a cupcake please please PLEASE post your other recipe asap, I neeeeed it
Sara says:
Yep…a favorite here, but we use the Bridgeford frozen rolls….and, add a package of butterscotch pudding mix. O.M.G…yum.
But, now I really want to make it,…darn you!
edenland says:
I can’t make this. Which makes me sad … you know those weird-ass biscuit things? What the f*ck ARE they?? So weird. We don’t have those down here.
Heather says:
They are REALLY fucking weird, and when you open the package, they basically explode. I hate them. But do you have other pre-made biscuits down there? That’s really all you need. Or…you could make your own, but that would take muuuuuuch longer.
Emily says:
They are similar to buttermilk scones. In America they are popularly sold as pre-made dough in a pressurized cardboard can. The most popular brand is Pillsbury, and they are delish!
steph says:
dammit.I want this but we don’t have biscuits in Australia.Most people don’t even know what they are here lol
I miss them from my ‘living in the states’ days.
I could make the biscuits myself from scratch but I am waaaay too lazy for that kind of commitment.
Jean says:
Aw, you should. It’s not that bad. I love making biscuits from scratch because they taste so much better than store bought.
Tina says:
Ahem you made me drool lol
Ok what if the Ready Made Pilsbury Biscuit Rolls are not available in your country? How do you make the dough???
Bianca S says:
What do you do for the recipe if you can’t get those biscuits in your country?! Can anyone point me to a recipe for the biscuits?!
veggie mama says:
Need. Refrigerated. Biscuits. In. Australia. Now!!
Sue says:
I don’t cook that much anymore, Heather, but I really enjoy seeing, & reading about, your cooking sessions! I hope that you’re having as much fun as you appear to be having. ALSO,,,,,,,,,,,,,let me be the first to say that you look sooooooooo darn cute with your “hat” (not sure if that’s the right term for it), and your hair braided!
Nichole says:
YUM! My grandma has always made this for Christmas. Can’t wait to see what your family version of Monkey Bread is! And the Pheobe reference was spot on!
PS. I’m obsessed with your kitchen! We’re about to finish the remodel on ours…so I’ve been keenly aware of other ppls kitchens!
Cate says:
It looks like Mike has lost a LOT of weight! What is he doing to lose the weight? Also, I wish my kids fell asleep eating, that is hilarious! Mine don’t fall asleep anywhere! Thanks for the recipe – unfortunately no pillsbury stuff in France so I’m going to have to wait to make this one!
Ragan says:
Thanks for sharing this Heather!!! I am definitely going to be making this soon!
Michele says:
Sunday….me and your Monkey have a breakfast date….mmmmm. You ROCK, Heather!!
Daisy says:
I’m laughing- I didn’t see this until this morning…right after making this for Tena’s family. Great minds…..
Robyn says:
In my family, we make something very similar, only instead of using canned biscuits, we use frozen yeast roll dough, and we let the whole thing sit in the refrigerator to rise overnight and then bake it in the morning.
Kay says:
too bad I’m allergic to cinnamon. that looks SO good.
Kat says:
I want to fall asleep while eating! That is the life!
Jessica says:
We make this too, I actually found an idea on pinterest to separate it into cupcake pans and that worked great. The kids loved having their own individual servings.
Megan says:
I’ve always associated bundt pans with the uninteresting cakes my mom made at Christmas “for the adults.” (I’m an adult now and still would rather have chocolate.) This is the first recipe I’ve ever seen that makes me want to run out and buy a bundt pan. It sounds awesome! I really want to try this.
Stephanie Elliot says:
My daughter just made that in culinary arts in 7th grade and they too call it Monkey Bread! Yours looks better than hers. I make something like this with Blue cheese and butter and bisquits — it’s an AWESOME appetizer!!!!!
Shan says:
Lol, yes this is what we call monkey bread also..but now I’m curious…what does your family call monkey bread?
Missy says:
as you said, in my house, this is Monkey Bread, and VERY well loved. If your Monkey Bread is something different, I would LOVE LVOE LVOE to have the recipe!
Emily says:
My family has a very similar recipe except we don’t cut up the biscuits and we dip them in milk and then in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. We also call it pull apart bread/cake but EVERYONE says “Oh yeah, monkey bread!”
Debi says:
yum! Monkey Bread! We add a cup of chopped pecans (or any nut) on the bottom of the pan first, with the butter mixture then begin the layering…. I love it with gooey pecans on top of it! You can also put the crushed pecans on each layer if you love pecans like I do. Thanks for sharing your Moms recipe… they all taste about the same .. fabulous!
ps.. cant believe how big Annie is!!! She is adorable!
AmazingGreis says:
Your mom made this for us and it was YUMMY! I must make it one day! So easy!
Jennifer U says:
This has always been Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread for our family. I had never heard of monkey bread until I saw it on Jon and Kate Plus 8. The only reason I could think for it to be called monkey bread is not very good.
I’m definitely going to make this. It looks fantastic!
Anne DiNapoli says:
I love your recipe posts! Looks so yummy…can’t wait to try. I have no idea what Monkey bread is, so I’ll def go by your name.
Trish says:
This is baking in my oven as I type. I told my daughter on the way to school today “tonight we are making money bread!” She told me (although she’s never had it) “but I don’t LIKE monkey bread” so I said “okay, then I’ll make pull-apart bread.” When I picked her up from after school care she asked “are we going home now to make polar bear bread??” So I guess your delicious treat has a third name now!! It smells soooo good baking, I can’t wait until it’s done!!
Erin says:
These are coming out of the oven right now- they smell amazing!! Keep the awesomely easy recipes coming!
Amanda says:
This looks delicious! Do they need to be served and eaten right away? Or can they be baked and then eaten later?
JustAMom says:
I’ve been making this for my daughter since you first posted the recipe. Just had to come back and let you know that for her 8th birthday last week we had her first real “sleepover” and I made this and it was a HUGE, HUGE hit and basically now I’m the coolest mom in the 2nd grade. I let each of the girls have a chance at shaking the bag…. yep they all pretty much want to come back now
Heather says:
YAY! That is AWESOME! Way to go, super-cool mom!