Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

A freshly baked pull-apart bread topped with white icing on a white plate, accompanied by two glasses of milk in the background.

4.67 from 3 votes

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

🧡🙌🏻 By taking advantage of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough, this monkey bread is FAST and so EASY! It has the flavor and texture of soft and fluffy cinnamon rolls but in bite-sized monkey bread pieces making it a favorite for kids and adults alike! Great for brunches, holiday mornings, or as a dessert for casual entertaining!

*The directions below make this look like a more complicated recipe than it really is but I am very thorough to make sure your monkey bread turns out perfectly! Read the condensed steps midway through the blog post for a quickie overview!

Prep Time10

Cook Time30

Total Time45

Course: Bread, Rolls, Muffins & Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: pull apart monkey bread

Servings: servings

Calories: 104cal

Equipment

1 12-cup Bundt pan

Ingredients

⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
two 8-count tubes refrigerated cinnamon roll dough
½ cups chopped pecans or walnuts optional
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons light brown sugar packed

Instructions

Monkey Bread - Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 12-cup Bundt pan very well with cooking spray, or grease and flour the pan; set aside. Tips - It's very important to spray the pan very generously with spray to prevent sticking later on! I recommend using a Bundt pan and not any other type of pan for best results.
To a small bowl, add the granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and whisk to combine; set aside momentarily.
Open each of the two tubes of refrigerated cinnamon roll dough. Separate all the cinnamon rolls, you should have 16 total. Dice each of the 16 rolls into quarters to form bite-sized pieces. Reserve the glaze that came in the tubes for after baking. See blog post FAQs for questions about using other types of dough.
To a gallon-sized ziptop plastic bag, add the dough pieces, sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the dough, seal the bag, and shake to evenly distribute and coat evenly.
Turn the coated dough out into the prepared pan, layering it lightly (do not pack or smoosh) and evenly around the pan. If you're using optional nuts, sprinkle them in as you're layering and placing the dough into the pan. Set pan aside momentarily.
To a small bowl, add the melted butter (you can use the same bowl you used for the cinnamon-sugar). Tip - If the bowl is microwave-safe, even better. You can melt the the butter in it in your microwave on high power in about 20 seconds.
To the melted butter, add the maple syrup, brown sugar, and whisk to combine. Tip - The warmer the butter is, the easier the sugar will dissolve and without clumping.
Evenly pour the buttery sauce mixture over the dough in the prepared pan, trying to keep it from hitting the perimeter of the pan and keep the sauce away from the sides and just on the dough pieces as best you can. This turns into caramel sauce as it bakes so the less it touches the edges, the better.
Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until dough pieces are just set and done; rotate pan once midway through baking to ensure even cooking. It won't look like very much before baking in the bottom of your Bundt pan, but the dough puffs up and rises quite dramatically while baking. Baking Tips - Start checking after about 25 minutes because all ovens vary and prepared dough like this has a tendency to cook pretty quickly, more quickly than scratch dough. It will also set up more as it cools so don't overbake.
Allow the monkey bread to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Cooling Tips - This allows the caramel sauce to thicken slightly. But don’t let it cool much longer than 5 minutes, or it will be too hard to remove from the pan. While cooling, get your glaze ready.
Inverting - Before glazing, you need to invert the Bundt pan over a serving platter. If the monkey bread doesn't just plop out, run a rubber tipped spatula down into the sides of the pan to try to loosen the sticking points. Don't be afraid to give the pan a firm wrap with your hands, too.
Glaze - Warm the two little containers of glaze that came with the two tubes of dough, if desired or necessary (if they were at room temp during baking, likely not necessary). If you want more glaze, melt 2 tablespoons butter and then whisk in about 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar, or as desired for consistency. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the monkey bread and serve immediately.

Notes

Storage: Monkey bread is best warm and fresh, but can be stored if needed.
- At room temp: Monkey bread should keep for up to 3-4 days, noting the fresher the better.
- In the Refrigerator: You don’t have to keep it in the fridge (and it will dry out more if you do), but it keeps airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- In the Freezer: I personally wouldn’t freeze it, but if you do, it will keep airtight in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- To Reheat: While it’s not necessary, I use my microwave to zap leftovers for 10-15 seconds and put a pat of butter on it first. Be careful, though – too long in the microwave and it will just dry out like crazy and become tough.

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