Monkey Bread - Monkey "Busy-ness"

It's been nearly four months since my last blog post. But, I do promise to get "back on the saddle" with school and teaching winding down soon. I'm beyond excited for warmer weather, along with most Michiganers!

Every month I have supervision, working toward my full license in counseling. Typically I have hosted this at my home for ladies involved. Of course loving being a hostess but having little time and money to put toward being such, I've been forced to come up with some creative ideas. Monkey bread is a childhood favorite, but I haven't made it since I've been married. What a surprised look my husband gave me when he woke up this morning, and exclaimed, "It actually tastes like monkey bread!" Unreal. Thank, Hunny. ;)

Anyway, thrown together last minute on a Sunday morning, this baby surprised me. Using ingredients I had in the house, it still turned out really great! 

I don't have a bundt pan, so I used an 9x9 in glass pan.

Ingredients 

- 2 loaves of white frozen Meijer bread dough

- 1 can of cream cheese frosting (any brand - I used Duncan Hines)

- 1 cup of sugar (I used sugar blend of stevia and sugar)

- 2 Tbs of cinnamon spice

- 1 Cup of melted butter (I used margarine yogurt blend instead)

- 1/2 cup of light brown sugar

- 1 Tbs of honey

How to make this deliciousness: 

- Place frozen dough out on 9x13 greased cookie sheet. Loosely cover with a kitchen towel and tuck under the sides of the pan. Allow bread to rise overnight.

- Next day: Preheat oven to 350 degrees

- Cut up small pieces of break dough and form into small balls 

- Place cinnamon and sugar in a large plastic bag, and place about 10 pieces/dough balls in at a time and shake to cover with the cinnamon/sugar mixture

- Place dough balls into a greased (small bundt pan or small glass pan)

- Repeat the dough ball process and shaking routine until all dough is used and formed into balls. Continue to place in the pan, making 1-2 layers of dough balls.

- Heat butter in microwave until liquid, remove and place brown sugar and honey in the mixture, heat for 30-45 more seconds. 

- Pour mixture over the dough balls in the pan and sprinkle remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture on top.

- Bake for 35 minutes, allow cool time for 10 minutes. After baking, you can put half of a can of the cream cheese frosting on top with a knife and it will melt right away. Having a whole can allows people to put it on like a cinnamon roll when served. 

- Best served warm, but you can pull them off from the top or the bottom. If turned over (like typical monkey bread, it will have a gooey topping, but if left in the pan right side up it will look and taste more like cinnamon rolls....Win Win, people!