This sugary, sticky pull-apart treat is Iowa's most searched-for Thanksgiving side dish

Thanksgiving is almost here, and many Iowans are digging out their best recipes for the feast ahead. And some people are looking for help by searching for recipes online.

Everyone has their own food traditions and dishes that make Thanksgiving, well, Thanksgiving. But General Mills decided to see what recipe each state searched for online by researching which recipes earned the most clicks on BettyCrocker.com, Pillsbury.com, and its other websites.

And the most searched-for recipe in Iowa is ... monkey bread. That's right. This sugary, sticky pull-apart treat is Iowa's most Googled side dish.

MORE: Thanksgiving sides that you need in your life

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Not to worry. There are no actual monkeys in this bread. Also called Hungarian coffee cake or monkey puzzle bread, this baked good began showing up in bakeries and recipe books in the late 1800s.

Monkey bread, or "aranygaluska" in Hungarian, is a tightly-packed loaf of rounded pieces of yeast dough. It's formed in a ring mold or bundt pan with butter, sugar, cinnamon and sometimes chopped nuts. Savory versions also exist.

This treat was popularized in the 1950s with the advent of pre-packaged refrigerated biscuit dough.

Recipes for monkey bread abound online, but here's an easy "day-ahead" recipe from our archives from the Sept. 24, 1981 edition — by reader Kathy Jones — that uses frozen bread dough and butterscotch pudding mix for a unique and nostalgic take on monkey bread for your Thanksgiving table on Thursday:

Monkey Bread

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 loaf frozen bread dough (1 pound) - partially thawed

1 package (3 ounces) butterscotch pudding mix

Directions

Combine brown sugar, butter and cinnamon in a medium saucepan and melt together. Cut frozen bread into about 10 pieces and arrange in Bundt or ring mold pan. Sprinkle dough with butterscotch pudding mix. Pour melted topping evenly over the dough and pudding mix. Let rise overnight, covered. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Unmold bread onto a plate while still hot and serve.

Note: Two packages (12 ounces each) of frozen dinner rolls may be used for the same recipe instead of the frozen loaf. Optional: sprinkle with 1/2 cup chopped nuts before baking.

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