Monkey Bread

I'm sure that everyone has their  own recipe for monkey bread but my preschool kids made this one with me today and they were so proud of it I thought that I would post the recipe here and show off their cooking skills. 

I really love to cook with kids in the kitchen, they love to help out and see the results.   The preschoolers eyes were huge when this came out of the oven.  My kids are always begging me to cook all of our meals and desserts together.   Saturday is our big breakfast day and my 7 year old makes the pancakes while my 5 year old makes the eggs and my 2 1/2 year old flips the sausages.  It can be a little crazy and there are times where I just have to ask them to let me cook on my own, but they would be in the kitchen making every meal with me if I let them. I also notice that my kids are a lot more willing to try something new if they have had a hand in making it.

This is such a fun snack to make with your kids and it is so delicious you'll want to make it again and again.

Monkey Bread

Dough

2 cups warm water

4 tsp. yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup oil

2 tsp salt

5-7 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 TBS cinnamon

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1.  In the bowl of a mixer, combine the water, yeast,  sugar and vanilla.   Allow to sit for about 10 minutes or until foamy.

2.  Add the oil, salt and 3 cups of the flour.  Mix with the dough hook until combined.  Slowly add more flour until the dough clears the side of the bowl but still sticks to the bottom.  The dough will be a little sticky but will handle well with floured hands.  Spray the top of the dough with a little spray oil and cover with a cloth.  Allow to rise for about 1/2 an hour or until puffy.

3.  Remove dough from bowl onto a floured surface and give it a quick knead.  Cut the dough into small pieces.  ( I weighed mine at about 30 grams or a little over 1/2 an ounce each.)

4.  Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a 12 cup bundt pan.  In a small sauce pan combine the butter and brown sugar.  heat over low heat stirring until the mixture is melted together.

5.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon, roll the dough pieces into little balls and roll into the sugar and cinnamon mixture coating them well with the mixture.  Drop them into the greased pan, fillinf 1/4 pan full.

6.  Once pan is 1/4 full ( about half of the dough)  pour half of teh brown sugar and butter mixture over the coated dough pieces.  Repeat with the remainder of the dough and then pour teh rest of the syrup over the top.  The pan should be 1/2 to 2/3 full.  Do not over fill the pan with dough or the syrup and dough will spill out of the pan as it bakes.

7.  Set the pan on top of the warm oven and let rise for about 15 minutes or until puffy.  Bake at 350° for about 30 -40 minutes or until the top is golden and the syrup is bubbling.   Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes then cover with a large plate or platter and turn the pan over and let the bread fall from the pan.  Eat while warm.