Recipes from Ollie J -- Monkey Bread

As with many of the recipes in Grandma's box, I don't know if this is a cultural, regional, or religious phenomenon. I don't even think this is the original recipe. I'm pretty sure Grandma Ollie J got it when visiting her sisters in Utah, as I don't ever remember seeing when we visited her down south. The appearance of Oleo in the ingredients seems to verify this timing. (Why ruin ooey, gooey Monkey bread with Oleo?!).

The short cut of the refrigerated pop-can biscuits surely makes this easier to create, but now days there are even easier methods. Out West, you can go the freezer case and purchase pre-made, ready-to-cook Monkey bread. The last time I tried the frozen rolls which are cousins to the Monkey bread I was bitterly disappointed. It's possible I might have been influenced by the glaze that burned my tongue and the slight chemical aftertaste of the frozen version. This one is so.much.better.

Monkey Bread

4 cans biscuits (10 in each) (used 3 cans of 8 Pillsbury Dinner Rolls)
1/2 cup pecans, ground fine (didn't chop finely enough)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar

Cut each biscuit into four pieces. (Kitchen shears work well.)
Roll each piece in the mixture of sugar, cinnamon, and ground nuts.
Place in a large buttered tub pan. (used my bundt pan)

Pour the following mixture over the biscuits:
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 cup butter or oleo* melted

Bake at 350 degree for 40-45 minutes.
Let stand five (5) minutes before turning out on a cake plate.
Do not slice. Simply pull off a lump from the whole piece (hence the name Monkey bread).

I don't have a tub (or a tube) pan, so I sprayed down my bundt pan instead. Since I had fewer biscuits, it was perfect. Rather than use more fresh sugar and cinnamon for the topping, I used the leftovers from coating the biscuit pieces. I simply added the melted butter to that coating and then mixed it well. I dumped that liquid glaze over the whole pan and baked away.

After baking and letting stand for five minutes, I turned it out onto a well wax-papered cookie sheet. Only one little nugget had stuck to the inside of the pan, and I used a spatula to scrap off the rest of the warm glaze onto the cake.

Have you ever bitten into something and suddenly had a sensory memory that was super intense? I almost cried when I ate this. I haven't had this combination of flavors in such a long time.

The cake is best warm, but perfectly good a few days later as the sugars start to crystallize into the dough. The sugared pecans that have fallen off the cake are good by themselves as well.

This one is getting made again. Make sure you have friends to help you eat it. You feel just a little piggy realizing that you've eating two thirds of it by yourself. Or is that just me?