My Baking Diary: Cinnamon Monkey Bread

Also known as the "pull apart" bread, this is something very new to me & because it looks easy to bake, I decided to try it out. Only after baking it did I find out what exactly "monkey bread" is - a type of sticky bread. Hmm...the recipe doesn't have yeast. It certainly won't feel like bread....it feels more like a sticky cake! I wonder if I did it right :S According to Eggless Cooking's recipe, the cake is supposedly moist...I can testify that it's moist, but is the texture's consistency (of moist-ness) right? I won't know since I'm no cake expert :( But I'll make a guess that maybe I shouldn't "pack" the bread too much nor roll it like a real bread dough cos it may loss its crumbly texture...*shrugs* my 1st time...

My little monkey baby...

The recipe that I used was adapt from Eggless Cooking. It's a vegan site, which is kinda good for me since I don't have that many eggs left in my fridge to bake any cakes :P

Ingredients:
Part A
2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
5 tablespoons cut into 5 pieces Cold Butter

Part B
1 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
2/3 cup Milk

Part C
1/4 cup Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
3 tablespoons melted Butter

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F for 15 minutes. 

2. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. [I used a round baking pan since I didn't have an 8-inch square baking pan. My square pan was too big]

3. In a mixing bowl sift and combine all the ingredients mentioned in Part A except butter

Sifted ingredients

4. Using a pastry blender or a few pulses of a food processor, cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse meal. [I used 2 knives to cut through the butter & once it's in small bits/mixed with the flour, I used my hands to mix the fat + flour properly] 

5. Stir in the Part 2 ingredients and combine to form a dough. 

Chocolate chips in the flour mixture

The dough :) 

6. Divide the dough into 16 balls and place in the prepared baking pan. The balls will touch. [I divided mine into 19 balls...haha...smaller balls though :P]

7. Drizzle the balls with the melted butter.

8. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Sprinkle the monkey bread with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

9. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until light brown.

10. Cool in the pan set on a wire rack before removing from the pan. Walla! My Monkey Bread! :D

The bottom of the Monkey Bread 

 How an individual "monkey" looks like...

I've tasted it & it really tastes like a sticky, dense cake filled with melted chocolate chips! I love it that the top is slightly crunchy & very aromatic as well. Oh, it's like eating cinnamon rolls with chocolate chip! :P 

My satisfaction level for tonight's Monkey Bread is roughly 3.5/5.0 only. I'm not extremely pleased, but I'm not utterly disappointed as well. I guess such "bread" is best eaten warm...perhaps with a nice cup of coffee!


Midnight Monkey,