This pull-apart monkey bread tastes just like apple fritters, and it conveniently separates into little doughnut holes for shareable bite-size treats! Get the kids involved in rolling the dough pieces into balls and building the bread in the Bundt pan.
- Prep time 1 hour
- Total time 4 hours & 30 minutes
Ingredients
Easy Brioche:
Apple Filling:
Cream Cheese Glaze:
Method
Easy Brioche: In stand mixer, stir warm water with 1 tsp of the sugar until dissolved. Sprinkle in yeast. Let stand until frothy, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in bowl, whisk together eggs, butter and remaining sugar. In separate bowl, whisk 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the salt.
In stand mixer with paddle attachment, stir egg mixture into yeast mixture. Stir in flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, to form soft sticky dough. Mix on low speed, scraping down bowl halfway through and adding as much of the remaining flour, a little at a time, as needed to form soft smooth dough.
Transfer to greased large bowl; cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
Turn out dough onto lightly floured work surface. Shape into 15- x 3-inch (38 x 8 cm) rectangle; cut in half lengthwise. Cut each half crosswise into about 25 pieces; shape each piece into smooth ball.
Apple Filling: Place butter in shallow bowl. In separate shallow bowl, whisk brown sugar with cinnamon. In separate bowl, toss apples with 1 1/2 tbsp of the butter and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar mixture. Reserve remaining butter and brown sugar mixture.
Assembly: Working with 1 ball at a time, roll dough in remaining butter; roll in remaining brown sugar mixture to coat. Arrange dough, alternating with spoonfuls of the apple mixture, in generously greased 10-inch (3 L) Bundt pan. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Place pan on rimmed baking sheet; bake in 350°F (180°C) oven until golden brown and bread sounds hollow when tapped, about 40 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto serving platter. Let cool completely.
Cream Cheese Glaze: While brioche is cooling, beat cream cheese with butter until smooth. Beat in icing sugar. Slowly beat in milk until smooth. Drizzle over brioche.
Tip from The Test Kitchen: The dough is meant to be soft and slightly sticky, so don't feel the need to add more flour to smooth it out—this will only make the bread tough.
Makes 10 to 12 servings.
Nutritional facts Per each of 12 servings: about
- Fibre 1 g
- Sodium 270 mg
- Sugars 25 g
- Protein 4 g
- Calories 316.0
- Total fat 16 g
- Potassium 92 mg
- Cholesterol 87 mg
- Saturated fat 10 g
- Total carbohydrate 40 g
%RDI
- Iron 11.0
- Folate 20.0
- Calcium 4.0
- Vitamin A 15.0
- Vitamin C 2.0
