#37: Bread for Monkeys (Monkey Bread)

my dad sent me a link to a monkey bread recipe on a blog and it looked absolutely scrumptious. i decided that if i woke up early enough in the morning, then i would try to take the 4 required hours to make this monkey bread. low and behold i woke up at 7:30...perfect timing for making monkey bread (before I had to be somewhere by 11). i didn't have yeast at home so i decided to run over to safeway (yes, literally run) to buy some - this delayed my start time a bit. i assembled the dough and let it rest so the yeast could do its work. after 1 hour of wait time, i cut the dough into 64 pieces and rolled them into balls. i then dipped each ball into melted butter and rolled in a cinnamon/brown sugar mixture. i layered the balls into a bundt pan and then let the 'cake' rest for another hour to rise. after the balls expanded, i put the pan into the oven for about 30 minutes. after cooling for about 5 minutes, i used a whisk to dress the cake with icing.

you might be thinking, what the heck does monkey bread mean anyways?? well, according to wikipedia, the origin of 'monkey bread' is uncertain. the name could be from 1. resembling a monkey puzzle tree (? not sure what this is) or 2. people picking from it is reminiscent of monkey behavior.

after bringing some monkey bread to my friends this morning - i'd say the latter might be the more appropriate reason behind the name. i was very happy with how the bread turned out. it reminded me of little donut holes (but baked, not fried). some people thought it was similar to cinnabons. whatever it's like...it's absolutely delicious and i will definitely keep this recipe in my collection.