Cinnamon Brown Sugar Monkey Bread (2024)

Monkey bread is one of Ella’s favorite recipes to make. Our Biscuit Dough Monkey Bread recipe is super easy for kids to make independently and is the perfect fun dessert option for family night.

Easy Monkey Bread Recipe

The first time we made Monkey bread it was for an Aladdin-themed movie night (inspired by Apu). We had found a recipe in Ella’s Disney Princess Cookbook for from-scratch monkey bread, which is delicious, but involves a lot more time and parent supervision than I’d like.

What I love about this recipe is that Ella and I can set it up together and then she can make most of the recipe completely independently. I can focus on getting supper prepared, or meal prepping for the week, while she confidently handles dessert.

While we often like to make recipes together, there is a special pride that she gets out of being able to make something “all on her own” and I love to see her light up when serving those dishes to friends and family. If your kids are also loving their kitchen independence these days, this dessert is a great option.

Of course, this recipe is also great for us grown-ups to make. It’s a super quick and easy dessert to treat your family with or bring along to a party. I know a lot of families make Monkey bread for special Christmas or birthday brunches, too!

What is Monkey Bread? Monkey bread is decadent, sticky-sweet dessert composed of pull-apart pieces of dough covered in a caramelized coating. It can be served for dessert or as a decadent brunch option. Some people call it cinnamon pull-apart bread, but I think it’s a lot more fun to call it monkey bread!

The bread tastes like a caramelized cinnamon bun center – my favorite part of the cinnamon bun!

You can serve it like this, and let family members pull off pieces, or you can cut it into servings and top with ice cream or a cream cheese drizzle.

I prefer to make it in a bundt pan for presentation, but we’ve also made it in a loaf pan and the recipe works just as well! (You can see an example of what it looks like in a loaf pan in our video below.) I’ve also made muffin pan versions but I highly advise you use silicone baking cups for an easy clean-up if you opt for that.

You can also customize this recipe by adding chocolate chips, fresh fruit, swapping out the cinnamon for pumpkin spice, add a drizzle of cream cheese frosting, etc.

Canned Biscuit Dough Recipes

As I mentioned, we used canned biscuit dough to make our monkey bread super, duper easy. We’ve also used canned biscuit dough to make:

• Pull-apart Pizza Bread
• Pull-apart Garlic Bread
• Olive Pull-apart Loaf
• Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
• Pizza Donuts
• Mini Deep Dish Pizzas
• Mini Chicken Pot Pies
• Pumpkin Pull-apart bread

I will be sharing a from-scratch version of our monkey bread recipe soon, but honestly – this monkey bread with biscuits is such a great option for a low-key dessert and it still tastes amazing.

If you need to prepare this recipe in advance, you can take it all the way to the step before adding the melted butter mixture, wrap the top of the bundt pan with plastic wrap (or re-usable food savers) and place in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature before pouring the melted butter mixture in to prevent it from solidifying.

You can also freeze this recipe, but for best results you will want to freeze in single-serve portions.

Check out our quick video for how to make this delicious peanut butter chocolate cheesecake and then don’t forget to scroll down to grab your free printable recipe to make these yourself!

Monkey Bread Ingredients

• White sugar

• Cinnamon

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• Canned biscuit dough

• Butter

• Brown sugar

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Tip: You can also customize this recipe by adding chocolate chips, fresh fruit, swapping out the cinnamon for pumpkin spice, add a drizzle of cream cheese frosting, etc.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Cutting board
• Sharp kitchen knife <– this is a great, affordable set that you will get years of use out of
• Three medium-sized bowls (at least one microwave-safe)
• Bundt pan (can use a loaf pan)
• Spoon

How to Make Monkey Bread with Biscuits

Preheat oven to 325ºF

Grease a bundt pan and set aside. (Can use a casserole dish or two loaf pans instead.)

Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.

Cut up biscuits into quarters.

Roll each biscuit piece in the cinnamon sugar mixture and then place in the bundt pan.

Note: you can place the cinnamon sugar in a large ziptop bag, add the cut-up biscuit dough and shake to coat, but I like the precision of rolling each piece by hand.

When all biscuits are cut, rolled in cinnamon sugar and place in the bundt pan, combine the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan.

Place the saucepan over medium heat until the butter has melted, about 2-3 minutes.

Pour the butter mixture over the biscuits in the bundt pan.

See Also

Joanna Gaines shares her family's favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until tops are browned and glossy.

Remove the bundt pan from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes, then immediately turn out onto serving platter.

Pin this Super East Monkey Bread recipe:

Grab your free printable recipe card for our delicious monkey bread recipe:

This easy monkey bread recipe is a great one for kids to make independently. It’s a great option for an easy dessert or brunch.

For more delicious brunch recipes kids can help make, check out our Heart-Shaped Strawberry Cheese Danish recipe or our Dutch Baby Pancake recipe.

Check out our other Breakfast Recipes here: