Monkey Bread 'Muffins'

If you read my last post about the grilled cheese sandwich, you will remember that extra ball of dough that I was left with. As I set aside the dough in the loaf tin for its last rise before baking, I realized I had a large ball of dough leftover. Initially, I thought I would just make a few dinner rolls. But then, inspiration struck! :) Monkey Bread! Since the I had only a little dough left over, and because all things miniature are so darn cute, I decided I would make Little Mini Monkey Breads.

So, here is how I made my Mini Monkey Bread. I really can't give you proper measurements or weights for this one because I didn't measure or weigh anything.

First, I separated & rolled the leftover dough into 1 inch balls. Then, you need light brown sugar - as much is needed to roll each 1 inch ball of dough, I had a large grapefruit sized piece of dough and used 2/3 cups of sugar. The third ingredient is ground cinnamon - I would say about 2 teaspoons for every cup of brown sugar. I also added a dash of nutmeg to my sugar because nutmeg is my all-time favorite spice! Finally, melted butter - I needed about 1/3 cup of melted butter.

Dip each ball of dough in the melted butter and roll in the sugar & cinnamon mix. Put these balls of dough into your muffin tray and press down lightly, so they stick to each other. I used silicone muffin cups like these and they were really good for this recipe. I had a little butter leftover after all the dipping, and so I poured a little over the top of each muffin.

 Bake at 400 for about 20-25 minutes. The caramel around the monkey bread will be bubbly & thick.

Let them cool for a few minutes and serve warm with a cup of coffee or tea. I've noticed that many people pair monkey bread with a cream cheese frosting! Next time, maybe. And believe me - there will be a next time for monkey bread! And this time it will be a whole batch! :)

I should mention - after I made these and ate a few, I was patting myself on the back for being so 'creative' with the leftover dough, until I Googled 'Mini Monkey Bread' and there were literally thousands of results with pictures of cute little monkey bread muffins that looked so much like mine! So much for my 'creativity! But the bottom line is, monkey bread = good!