Monkey Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze

Adapted just slightly from Cook’s Illustrated, who does not use a cream cheese glaze, but should

So here’s my favorite thing I learned about monkey bread when I was researching it: although it’s descended from the kind of buttery sweet yeasted breads that begat the kuchens and galettes of today and it began showing up in women’s magazines and community cookbooks in the 1950s, it was Nancy Reagan who put it on the map for a lot of people: she served it in the White House at Christmas. Her version involves a buttery brioche dough, dipped only in butter (no cinnamon or sugar, brown or white) and she suggests you eat reheated, with jam. It is fairly subdued. This one here is anything but. You’re welcome.

CI says this serves 6 to 8; we served it to far more people at a potluck brunch

Dough

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 2 ounces) unsalted butter, divided (2 tablespoons softened, 2 tablespoons melted)

1 cup milk, warm (around 110 degrees)

1/3 cup water, warm (also around 110 degrees)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 package or 2 1/4 teaspoons rapid rise, instant or bread machine yeast

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for work surface

2 teaspoons table salt

Brown Sugar Coating

1 cup packed light brown sugar (CI advises against dark brown, which they feel imparts too strong of a molasses taste; I suspect it wouldn’t bother me)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick or 4 ounces), mleted

Cream Cheese Glaze

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

3 tablespoons powdered sugar, plus extra if needed

2 tablespoons milk, plus extra if needed

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Get oven and pan ready: Adjust oven rack to medium-low position and heat oven to 200°F. When oven reaches 200, turn it off. Butter Bundt pan with 2 tablespoons softened butter. Set aside.

Make dough: In a large measuring cup, mix together milk, water, melted butter, sugar, and yeast.

To proceed with a stand mixer, mix flour and salt in standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Turn machine to low and slowly add milk mixture. After dough comes together, increase speed to medium and mix until dough is shiny and smooth, 6 to 7 minutes. (The dough should be sticky but if it is too wet to come together into anything cohesive, add an additional 2 tablespoons flour.) Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and knead briefly to form smooth, round ball.

To proceed by hand, mix flour and salt in large bowl. Make well in flour, then add milk mixture to well. Using wooden spoon, stir until dough becomes shaggy and is difficult to stir. Turn out onto lightly floured work surface and begin to knead, incorporating shaggy scraps back into dough. Knead until dough is smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes. Shape into taut ball and proceed as directed.

Coat large bowl with nonstick cooking spray or a tablespoon of neutral oil. Place dough in bowl and coat surface of dough with more cooking spray or oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in warm oven until dough doubles in size, 50 to 60 minutes.

Make brown sugar coating: Place melted butter in one bowl. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a second one.

Form the bread: Flip dough out onto floured surface and gently pat into an 8-inch square. Using a bench scraper or knife, cut dough into 64 pieces. I found it helpful to immediately separate them from the rest of the “grid” or they quickly reformed a big doughy square in 64 parts.

Roll each piece of dough into ball. Working one at a time, dip balls in melted butter, allowing excess butter to drip back into bowl. (I found a fork to be helpful for this process.) Roll in brown sugar mixture, then layer balls in Bundt pan, staggering seams (something I didn’t do, but should have) where dough balls meet as you build layers.

Cover Bundt pan tightly with plastic wrap and place in turned-off oven until dough balls are puffy and have risen 1 to 2 inches from top of pan, 50 to 70 minutes.

Bake bread: Remove pan from oven and heat oven to 350°F. Unwrap pan and bake until top is deep brown and caramel might begin to bubble around edges, 30 to 35 minutes. (The reason for the “might” is that CI says that it should, but mine did not bubble, leading me to bake mine for an extra 5 to 10 minutes, during which it still did not bubble but go the dark crust you see in the photos. Next time, I’d take it out sooner.) Cool in pan for 5 minutes (no longer, or you’ll have trouble getting it out) then turn out on platter and allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

Make glaze: Beat cream cheese with powdered sugar until smooth and light. Add milk and vanilla and this is where you can kick me because I completely forgot I was a food blogger for a minute there and know I added a touch more milk and sugar but did not write down how much. I have some nerve! Just taste and adjust — you’re looking for something that tastes equally tangy and sweet, and texturally thin enough to drape over the bread but thick enough that it will not just roll off completely.

Drizzle the glaze over warm monkey bread, letting it run over top and sides of bread. Serve warm.

Variation: So, as you all know, I have a little monkey to attend to while I am trying to cook and on Saturday morning, he was particularly distracting (read: cute) and I managed to accidentally slightly brown the melted butter you roll the balls of dough into. Do I need to tell you how amazingly delicious this was? Next time, I will do it intentionally, and get it all of the way brown. And then you can call it Brown Butter Cinnamon Brown Sugar Monkey Bread.

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