Monkey bread is balls of yeasty bread dipped in butter, cinnamon, and sugar. There isn't much that could make a monkey bread recipe better except the one thing that monkeys are known to love - bananas! And - if I were going to put bananas into a monkey bread recipe, why not throw in some chocolate, too?!
Since I haven't posted in a month, I wanted to come back with a recipe that was worth the wait. This monkey bread recipe is definitely it! Serve these monkey bread cupcakes with brunch (or on their own as brunch), as dessert, as a snack, or any time that you want to see someone's face light up.
Now, about that not posting for a month. I've haven't just been monkeying around. On August 17th, I gave birth to our little monkey.
Meet Myles:
Jonathan and I tried to pose Myles with a cupcake, but he wasn't quite up for it yet. The best we could do was pose him in his monkey onesie. Myles likes to hang out in my Moby wrap while I'm working in the kitchen. He mostly sleeps, but some day he'll be my cupcake helper (even if it's just eating them).
Special Thanks to Scharffen Berger
For the chocolate portion of this monkey bread recipe, I used Scharffen Berger baking chunks. Scharffen Berger offered to send me some chocolate to try. I expected to get some of their chocolate bars (which I have tried before and have found to be fantastic to bake with or simply to eat). To my surprise, in addition to the bars, they sent along some baking chunks. I had never seen this product before, but I was really excited about it. They are a great alternative to chocolate chips. Not only are they of higher quality than most chocolate chips that you will encounter, but sometimes a chunk is just more fun than a chip. Thanks, Scharffen Berger, for the sample!
Monkey Bread Cupcake Recipe
I came up with my monkey bread cupcake recipe by modifying the King Arthur Flour monkey bread recipe. I changed it from a cake to cupcakes, dipped the batter in butter instead of water (more calories, but more yum), and added the banana and chocolate. Also, I gave my cupcakes a cinnamon glaze. Here is the modified recipe:
Makes 12 cupcakes
- 1/2 C lukewarm water
- 1 T vegetable oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 t salt
- 1 T sugar
- 2 T instant yeast or rapid rise yeast
- 2 C all-purpose flour
- 1/2 C granulated sugar
- 1 T cinnamon
- 1 ripe banana, cut into small slices
- chocolate chips or baking chunks to taste (about 2 oz)
- 2 T unsalted butter, melted
- Place water, vegetable oil, egg, salt, sugar, and yeast in a medium bowl and mix well.
- Add 1 cup of the flour, stirring to blend.
- Add the second cup of flour, stirring to make a cohesive dough.
- Let the dough rest for 5 minutes; this gives the flour a chance to absorb the liquid, making it easier to knead.
- Knead the dough — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — until it's soft and smooth.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or large measuring cup, cover it, and let the dough rise for 30 to 60 minutes or until it's doubled in size.
- Gently deflate the dough.
- Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
- Place cupcake liners into a cupcake tin and lightly grease them with butter or cooking spray.
- Pull off a small piece of dough. How small? You should get 24 pieces out of the batter so that you can have two pieces in each cupcake. However, unless you are having a dinner party for exactly 12 people, it doesn't really matter and you can make the pieces whatever size you would like.
- Stretch the piece out, put a banana slice and several chocolate chips or baking chunks inside, and then roll it into a ball.
- Dip the ball in the melted butter.
- Dip the ball in the cinnamon and sugar.
- Put the ball into the cupcake liner. You should be able to fit two balls into each cupcake liner.
- Cover the cupcake tin and let the bread rise for 30 to 60 minutes, until it's visibly puffy. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Uncover the cupcake tin and bake the monkey bread for 25 to 30 minutes, until it's golden brown and feels set.
- While the monkey bread is baking, prepare the glaze.
- 1/2 C powdered sugar
- 1 T milk
- 1/4 t cinnamon
- Mix all of the ingredients together.
- Drizzle over the hot cupcakes.
- The cupcakes are best served warm. If you can't eat them immediately, reheat them in microwave for about 15 seconds before serving.
Cupcake Hero was one of the first blog events that I ever entered. After a long hiatus, it is back, and it's now hosted my one of my fav cupcake bloggers, I Heart Cuppycakes. This month's theme is banana, and these monkey bread cupcakes with banana and chocolate are my entry! I'm looking forward to seeing all of the other entries, but I hope that I'm top banana.
This sound wonderful and I am glad that you are back!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the babe--he's so cute!
ReplyDeleteAnd YUMMMM to the cupcakes. I love all things banana and add chocolate, too, I'm there! ;)
Congrats on your baby boy! He is already very manish. :)
ReplyDeleteThe cupcakes return! I'm so excited! Plus, I'm pretty sure I made that monkey onesie.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, Stef!
Congratulations, Stef and Jonathan! Myles is adorable :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats to u and your husband on your beautiful bundle of joy
ReplyDeleteOmg. Monkey bread+cupcakes=genius! I'm so starring this one to make someday. Congrats on your new little monkey too. He's just so precious. I'm a sucker for baby feet. :)
ReplyDeleteClara @ iheartcuppycakes!
Lovely post. So good you're back. Baby and cupcake are both yummy looking. What frosting is best with babies? ;)
ReplyDeleteThese look and sound delish! Congrats - Myles is adorable!
ReplyDeleteOk obviously I stopped at the droolworthy picture before the recipe b/c I totally missed the Cupcake Hero shout out! HA! Thanks for participating in Cupcake Hero::September!
ReplyDeleteClara @ iheartcuppycakes!
These cupcakes look amazing, Stef ... welcome back to the blog-o-sphere!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to meet Myles ... got a free night soon?
Congrats!! Myles is of course incredibly adorable! I just love the little smirk on his face. :)
ReplyDeleteI love monkey bread (who doesn't?), so I'll definitely be trying this out! The addition of bananas and chocolate is just so fun.
Congrats, Stef!!! Myles looks adorable, and the cupcakes sound pretty yummy too!
ReplyDeleteI'm just going to repeat everything everyone else has already said, but...
ReplyDelete1. I'm glad you posted again!
2. The cupcake sounds great. Sneaking the banana and chocolate in the bread balls is a great trick.
3. Myles is sooo cute! He looks like such a little character for not even being one month old. Uh-dorable.
He's just too cute Stef!
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you!!!
I love monkey bread too but you're new little one stole the show on this post. :)
Beautiful cupcakes and a beautiful baby! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteAdorable! I think I'm going to try it for Hari Raya.
ReplyDeleteOh, and congrats on Baby Myles! He's absolutely cute!
ReplyDeleteHow banana-ish are the cupcakes? Is it banana paste, or are we talking chunks o' banana?
ReplyDeleteMyles lookin cute as always.
Love the recipe! I made it yesterday and they were delish!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the baby - he's adorable! I'm so glad you're back! These cupcakes look awesome too!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute little peanut! Welcome back and congratulations!
ReplyDeleteOH wow! What a great idea for this months cupcake hero!! Delicious!!
ReplyDeleteSO making these! They sound delightful!
ReplyDeleteWelcome back - so pleased you've returned to us, especially with a recipe like this! Congratulations on the wee man.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the world Myles.
Myles thanks all of you for your welcome to the world wishes!!
ReplyDeleteI thank all of you for your welcome back wishes. Your comments, as always, mean so much to me. It's the reason why I blog.
Stephanie - I'm so excited that you made them already and that you liked them!
Card-Carrying - They can be as bananay as you want them to be. I had a chunk of banana in each piece, but you could put more than one chunk or mashed bananas if you prefer.
Wow, big congratulations! Very cute lil' guy, he'll be eating and enjoying your cupcakes, the lucky guy!
ReplyDeleteThese sound delicious. A must try. Thanks!
Congratulations on your little bundle of joy! Best wishes for New Mom, New Dad, and New Baby all doing well :-)
ReplyDelete--Kathi in Indy
MM MMMM MMM WOW! Chocolate and banana is the best combination :D!
ReplyDeleteOh my I think I NEED to make these lol
ReplyDeleteYour son is adorable! And those baking chunks...they have the power to rock my world!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your little one!
ReplyDeleteI made these this afternoon and they are fantastic! Thanks for the recipe.
What a sweetie he is! Good to "see" you blogging again!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your little bundle of joy. Myles is adorable. Baking cupcakes will have a whole new meaning now.
ReplyDeleteWhat an inspired idea! Great entry and congrats!
ReplyDeleteFirst, congratulations!! Second, those cupcakes look to die for! And third, I use Scharffen Berger chocolate all the time and have never seen chocolate chunks. I end up cutting the bars into chunks. Those would make life so much easier!
ReplyDeleteAww, he's adorable! Congratulations! :D
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your own lil' cupcake!
ReplyDeleteCongrats!
ReplyDeleteBoth are soooo cute!
Stef, huge congrats on your new little monkey. He looks like a sweetie! Hope things are going well and you're not too sleepy these days.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to look for those baking chunks. I love Sberger chocolate, but I'm often too lazy to chop up bars.
congratulations on your little boy! he looks like one of those wise babies, i love wise babies!
ReplyDeletethis recipe looks exciting, i usually shy away from anything that includes yeast expertise, but i think im going to have to take the plunge! we dont have monkey bread in australia, or really know what it is, so im looking forward to educating the people!
Myles is so adorable- i love the monkey onesie!
ReplyDeleteI made these cupcakes last night and they are SO good. I had enough dough to make 12 mini cupcakes with one ball each as well as 12 regualar. So yummy!
Thanks for the awesome recipe Stef.
Wow!! I haven't seen you in quite a while, but boy, have you been busy! Congratulations!!!! He is adorable
ReplyDeleteHow sweet! Congratulations! :0)
ReplyDeleteHi Stef,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your baby! He looks yummy!
You may not see this comment after more than a month, but I've prepared this at home twice now and my monkeys loved them. The only BUT is that they're time cosumming. Is there anything I can do ahead of time? Thanks!
Yined - Glad they were such a hit! I haven't tired it with this recipe, but you should be able to get them all shaped and ready to go and then store in the fridge or freezer. When you take them out, let them rise again before baking.
ReplyDelete