Caramel Apple Monkey Bread

Ooey, Gooey Caramel Apple Monkey Bread is layered with sautéed apples, homemade caramel sauce, cinnamon and pecans.  It’s a yummy twist on classic monkey bread that’ll have you never turning back.

Hiya Friends! I interrupt my pumpkin obsession to bring you something caramel, apple and delicious!  Don’t hold your breath just yet though as I’ve got more pumpkin treats coming your way before October ends

How was your weekend?  Ours was spent with friends rooting for our STL Cardinals!  We pulled one out and hoping for another victory tonight.  I whipped up some Pizza Sloppy Joes to eat while watching the game, which I’ll be posting for you soon, they’re delicious!

So about this Caramel Apple Monkey Bread.  I’ve had this idea in my brain for weeks and was finally able to bring my dream into reality a few weekends ago.  happily, it did not disappoint…not one bit.  I mean how could you go wrong with caramel, apples, cinnamon and sugar.  And for breakfast, sign me up and pass the milk!

We have a tradition in our house that every Christmas morning,g after all the gifts have been opened, I make monkey bread for breakfast.  We started the tradition when my son was 1.5 and I plan on continuing it for years to come.  I can’t tell you about the tradition without first mentioning the first year I made monkey bread.  It was the first time I had ever made it and I figured I could assemble the entire thing, place it in the refrigerator overnight and then just pop it in the oven and bake it in the morning.  That way it would save me time and I wouldn’t have to be wrapped up in the kitchen while everyone was playing with their new stuff.

So, I assembled the entire pan of monkey bread.  The biscuits all rolled in cinnamon sugar, plopped into the pan and topped with melted butter.  I covered the pan with aluminium foil and into the fridge it went until morning.  The next morning after all the gifts were unwrapped, I preheated the oven, popped in the pan of monkey bread and went back downstairs to enjoy the new toys my baby had just gotten.  About 20  minutes later, I smelled burning.  I ran upstairs flung open the oven to find butter seeping down everywhere onto the oven. There was smoke everywhere and I had to open all the windows in the house when the temperatures outside were below freezing.

Overnight, the melted butter had congealed and when it was reheated, it bubbled up everywhere.  Being it was the first time I had made monkey bread, I wasn’t aware to place an aluminum pan underneath in case of spillage.  Lesson learned, forever.  Not only was breakfast ruined so was my oven and cleaning it was no small feat.  I’m a monkey bread pro now, even going as far as to update it with this amazing caramel apple monkey bread.

I started out by making the homemade caramel sauce which couldn’t have been easier and tastes so much better than anything you can buy.  Once the caramel sauce was finished and I was done licking the spoon, I started to roll the dough.  I used biscuit dough that I cut into quarters, flattened out a little bit, placed a caramel square inside and tucked it all in like a little pillow.

Once all the dough was rolled into balls, all 64 of them, I started to assemble the bundt pan.  I sprayed it down real good, scattered chopped pecans all over the bottom and started to lay the “caramel apples bombs” in a single layer.  Once I had the entire bottom of the pan filled up, I started to saute my apples.  I used the same method I used for my Apple Pie Breakfast Parfaits.  I layered on the sautéed apples, more chopped pecans and topped them with the final layer of bread balls.  Lastly, I topped the entire thing with the rest of the homemade caramel sauce, placed it in the oven and drooled over the sweet-smelling aroma that was wafting through my entire house for 50 minutes.

Now, I will be the first person to admit, I cannot take a compliment.  I am the type of person who never thinks her food is good enough, her pictures can’t compete with others and her custom invite designs aren’t really that cute.  But this, this right here, I KNEW I had a winner.  I ate the heck outta this Caramel Apple Monkey Bread, while I was photographing it, until my belly hurt.  I took it over to our friends house to finish it off later that morning and everyone couldn’t stop raving about it.

Just look at the ooey, gooey caramel melting right outta those “bombs”  This Caramel Apple Monkey Bread was sweet, a little tart from the granny smith apples and irresistible.  It just may be my new go to recipe for Christmas Morning!

I just love when my food dreams become reality and knock it outta the park.  Now let’s just hope the STL Cardinals can do the same thing in Game 4 tonight.  GO REDBIRDS!  If not, I’ll just go drown myself in homemade caramel sauce.

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Caramel Apple Monkey Bread

Prep 15 mins

Cook 50 mins

Total 1 hour, 5 mins

Author Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Yield 12

Ooey, Gooey Caramel Apple Monkey Bread is layered with sauteed apples, homemade caramel sauce, cinnamon and pecans. It's a yummy twist on classic monkey bread that'll have you never turning back.

Ingredients

• Caramel Apple Bombs
• 2 cans (16.3 oz each) Pillsbury™ Grands!™ Flaky Layers refrigerated biscuits
• 64 Kraft Traditional Caramels
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• Homemade Apple Pie Spice
• 1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ginger
• Sauteed Apples
• 1 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and diced
• 1 tablespoons homemade apple pie spice
• 1 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• Homemade Caramel Sauce
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 stick Butter (4 Tablespoons)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• Pinch Of Salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a bundt pan with cooking spray.
2. In a shallow dish or bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon.
3. Cut each biscuit into quarters. You should end up with 64 quarters.
4. Flatten each quarter slightly and place one caramel in the center. Wrap dough all around the caramel making sure the caramel is tucked into the center with no holes. (repeat 64 times)
5. Roll each ball into the cinnamon sugar mixture.
6. Place 1/4 cup of chopped pecans into the bottom of your bundt pan. Top with 1/4 cup homemade caramel sauce (recipe follows)
7. Arrange dough balls into pan, in one even layer.
8. Top with sauteed apples, 1/4 cup caramel sauce and the remaining chopped pecans.
9. Arrange the rest of the dough balls on top of the apples.
10. Top with remaining homemade caramel sauce.
11. Cover with aluminium foil and bake for 25 mins. Remove foil and bake 25 minutes more or until the top is golden brown.
12. Homemade Caramel Sauce
13. Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pot set over medium low heat.
14. Cook 5-7 minutes, contentiously stirring until mixture is thick.
15. Yields a little more than 1 cup.
16. Homemade Apple Pie Spice
17. Stir all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside
18. Sauteed Apples
19. Combine apples, apple pie spice and brown sugar in a bowl and mix to combine.
20. Preheat pan to medium heat and add your butter.
21. When the butter has melted, add in your spiced apples.
22. Saute over medium heat for 2-3 minutes and then turn down heat to medium low.
23. Continue to cook until apples are fork tender, about 8-10 minutes.
24. Remove from heat and let apples cool slightly.

Notes

*Place a baking sheet under your bundt pan in case anything bubbles over it won't make your own a mess. (lession learned the hard way)Homemade Caramel Sauce via Pioneer Woman

Cuisine Breakfast

While this recipes may seem a little time-consuming to be wrapping and rolling all 64 dough balls, it really isn’t that bad, and if you think so, just wait until you taste this Caramel Apple Monkey Bread.  You’ll forget all about the labor that went into this monkey bread just the same way you forgot all about childbirth….

 Enjoy and if you make this recipe, please share a photo on social media and hashtag it #strawberryblondiekitchen I ♥ to see your versions!