Monkey Bread

My older sister is a lover of monkey bread, a gooey cinnamon tear apart dessert dish. Being the generous and thoughtful sister that I am, I came across a boxed mix for the stuff some time ago and gave it to her as a gift for her birthday or Christmas - it's been so long I can't remember which. Though it expired in 2009, we gave the mix a shot at the end of 2010. Needless to say, it was pretty awful. We ate as many of the clumpy and doughy mixture masquerading as monkey bread as we could, but I'm pretty sure most of it ended up in the garbage.

So I thought I'd really go above and beyond for her birthday this year and make genuine, authentic, 100% homemade monkey bread. There's no work for her and no concerns whatsoever about expiration dates or a sub-par mix. What more could a birthday girl ask for?

I used the recipe provided by Pillsbury because none of the others I've come across can really top the original. Find it on Pillsbury's website here or just take a look below.

Monkey Bread

Original recipe from Pillsbury's Grand's Monkey Bread

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 16.3 oz cans of Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup melted margarine or butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan with shortening or cooking spray.

2. In large plastic storage food bad, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon.
3. Separate dough into 16 biscuits - cut each into quarters. Shake biscuits in bag to coat with cinnamon sugar. Arrange them in the pan, adding walnuts and raisins among biscuit pieces if desired.
4. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and butter and pour it over the biscuit pieces.
5. Bake 28 to 32 minutes. The monkey bread will be golden brown and no longer doughy in the center. 6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn upside down onto a serving plate. Enjoy by pulling apart the warm biscuits!