The preteen grandchildren introduced me to Twitter, which sometimes contains unusual tweets. Yes, the contributions are actually called tweets. A particular tweet that caught his Grandma’s attention was “Shared from Twitter: Things You Can Do With a Muffin Tin: Food Network.” Somehow I thought it might contain some great ideas to make with grandchildren. It did.
The link brought me to Food Network to “8 Dishes You Never Thought to Make in a Muffin Tin.” The category was easy recipes, and I found the best grandchildren fun in number 2, a simple monkey bread recipe:
Mini Monkey Bread
“Individual portions of pull-apart bread mean you get a whole mini loaf to yourself – and no more fighting over the last piece! Cut refrigerated biscuit dough into small pieces, and toss with melted butter, cinnamon and sugar (add nuts if you’re feeling fancy). Bake in greased muffin cups until puffed and golden brown.”
Upon further research, I found using refrigerator biscuit dough is top rated for making monkey bread. See Pillsbury’s own site recipe here.
Even Allrecipes.com has monkey bread made from refrigerator biscuit dough.
Betty Crocker uses buttermilk biscuit dough.
This Grandma loves recipes like monkey bread that are easy and impossible to make a mistake with, which are perfect for grandchildren. It is messy to make as well as eat, so covering the kitchen counters and floors with old towels is a must.
I tried to think of how to explain monkey bread to the grandchildren and then realized they crave it at Auntie Anne’s pretzels in sticks dipped in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Now, we could eat our own creation made at home. Of course, Wikipedia always helps with information as to origin and history and monkey bread is no exception.
“Monkey bread, also called monkey puzzle bread, sticky bread, African coffee cake, golden crown, pinch-me cake, and pluck-it cake is a sweet, sticky, gooey pastry served in the United States for breakfast or as a treat. It consists of pieces of soft bread with cinnamon sprinkled on it and is often served at fairs and other parks. The origin of the term “monkey bread” is uncertain. One possible etymology is the bread’s resemblance to the fruit of the monkey
puzzle tree.”
There is a link to show the grandchildren a monkey puzzle tree.
However, this Grandma thinks the name ‘monkey bread” has something to do with how one eats it, pulling it apart by hand, like a monkey would eat. Wikipedia continues:
“Recipes for the bread first appeared in American women’s magazines and community cookbooks in the 1950s, but the dish is still virtually unknown outside the United States. The bread is made with pieces of sweet yeast dough (often frozen), which are baked in a cake pan at high heat after first being individually covered in melted butter, cinnamon, sugar, and chopped pecans. It is traditionally served hot so that the baked segments can be easily torn away with the fingers and eaten by hand.”
So, it may be more fun to make a loaf for the grandchildren to pull apart by hand, or both loaf and individual tins. We can experiment with all the varieties of refrigerator biscuit dough to see if it tastes different. Somehow, giving the grandchildren brown sugar, butter and cinnamon goo will always taste wonderful.
And, as the grandchildren eat the monkey bread and we watch them devour the rich and fattening dessert, we can read them one of the favorite children’s books about monkeys, “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.” You can buy it at Amazon.
After the sugar high kicks in, either allow them to become monkeys that jump on a bed, or the real trick is to make monkey bread and eat it just before delivering the grandchildren back to their parents for their parents to deal with the sugar high.
Joy,
Mema
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