When I was growing up our Christmas morning breakfast was always monkey bread. For those who do not know, this is a sticky sweet bread usually baked in a tube pan that you pull apart with your fingers. The kind Mother Used to Make was a yeast bread- I tried her delicious recipe once, but it required me to get up on Christmas Day at a ridiculously early hour and be busy in the kitchen when I'd rather be out watching children rummage through their stockings. So this tradition went by the wayside.
Until I found this recipe:
Heat oven to 400
Grease a tube pan (we found the tube pan is optional. Any small pan will do)
In a small saucepan heat 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup chopped nuts, 1/3 cup butter or margarine and 2 tablepoons of hot water.
While this is heating, break up two cans of biscuits, the kind that are sold 4 cans for a dollar at your discount grocer's. Cut the biscuits into quarters. Roll each quarter into a ball if you are a purist. Otherwise move to the next step-
Turn off the stovetop. Stir the dough gently into the warm brown sugar/butter mess in the saucepan. Spoon into baking pan and bake for 20-30 minutes.
You can drizzle this with a powdered sugar glaze if you like, but we never do.
Recently we were able to purchase small disposable aluminum cake pans with lids, ten for a dollar. Tomorrow morning (Sunday), we will make ten batches of this, top nine of the batches with a maraschino cherry or three, cover them and take them church to give away. The tenth batch we will have eaten hot out of the oven.
Some of us really do better with protein in the morning, so we'll probably boil a few eggs so that those of us who are a little snappish on a diet of pure sugar and white flour carbs can behave like civilized human beings.
Update: Well, we did make these and take them to church. They looked very pretty. But I overslept as usual, so they weren't done in time for any of us to eat them for breakfast. We have a long drive home from church so we nibbled on ours on the way home (it was too hot and gooey to eat on the way to church).
We're going to have leftovers on Christmas in the morning. (We're going out to eat for Christmas Eve late lunch at a restaurant that ALWAYS has leftovers because my husband has to be at the church Christmas Eve at 4pm since he's playing both services.)
ReplyDeleteI am making apple crisp for breakfast one day this week... and it is equally as sugary. I'm one who has to eat protien, though... I get light-headed and crash later without it.
ReplyDeleteI like your monkey-bread tradition. I love hearing about other's traditions.
Oooh, that sounds yummy, and quick and easy for a Christmas morning before church.
ReplyDeleteWe did this a few years ago, from a recipe that came with the tube of frozen cinnamon roll dough. We chopped up the dough, put it in the pan, and mixed in some chopped walnuts and apples- and drizzled just a bit of the sticky mess over top. It was delicious!
ReplyDeleteI also have two who need protein with their breakfast, so we serve this with some cheese cubes and extra nuts on the side- yummy!
I remember having this bread years ago and never did find out how it was made. I never thought it could be so easy, thanks for the recipe.
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