Monkey Bread

I love this stuff, it's amazing warm! If you have a stand mixer, it's actually really easy to make. A quick side note: my KitchenAid mixer was the best kitchen investment I've ever made. I made it at the wrong time though. If I had waited until Christmas time the prices fell drastically. I'm fairly new to baking, I started as a way to relieve stress and get my impending divorce off my mind, so I was a little intimidated by yeast and letting things rise, but the yeast really does all the work for you.
The original recipe is one I found on Pinterest and came from a site called Baking Bites. The link will take you to the original recipe. I have tweaked it slightly after some trial and error and to suit my personal taste. Everyone who has tried it has said it's the best they've ever had, and true or not I like to just take them at their word.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup warm water
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (I use 1 little envelope)
3-3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp sugar
1 large egg
2 Tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup warm milk

1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon


Grease a standard bundt pan. I use Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening, but I'm sure you can use whatever you're comfortable working with. Set pan aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer combine warm water and yeast. Let it stand for about 2 minutes, until it becomes slightly foamy.
Add 1 cup of the flour, salt, vanilla, sugar, egg, 2 Tbsp melted butter, and warm milk. Beat with paddle attachment until your douch is pretty smooth. Then, replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook, and gradually add the remaining flour. Keep the mixer at a medium speed and mix until the dough comes easily away from the sides of the bowl. Now for me there is always some pieces that seem to not mix in just kind of bouncing around the bottom of the bowl. I knead them in by hand. Remove the bowl and cover it with plastic wrap, Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

In a medium sized bowl mix together both brown sugars and the ground cinnamon. Place melted butter in a bowl next to the mixture. Now the original recipe says to use a fork for the dipping part, but I just use my fingers. Yes, it's messier but I thought it was just faster and easier.
Turn your dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate the dough so its about 1/2"-3/4" thick.THen using a knife or bench scraper cut of small pieces of dough. I cut strips, and then slice them into smaller pieces. You'll roll the small pieces in your hands to form balls, 1/2-1" in size. I like to do different sizes, not only is it easier, but it looks pretty cool in the end too.

As you go, dunk each ball in the melted butter, coating it really well. Then roll it in the cinnamon/sugar mix. I like to make sure they're really, REALLY covered in this too. The sweeter the better in my book. When I'm done, if there's any left over cinnamon/sugar mix I sprinkle it over the monkey bread. After this, cover the bundt pan with plastic wrap and let the dough balls rise for an hour. Preheat your oven to 350 while the dough rises

The dough balls will about double in size. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, then let it cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes. I jumped the gun a little and 1/2 of my monkey bread kind of fell apart this last time. No one cared, it all tastes the same, but it didn't look as pretty to begin with! This is definitely something that tastes better warm, so if it's possinle to serve it right away, that's the best.