Apple Fritter Monkey Bread

APPLE FRITTER MONKEY BREAD WITH APPLE BRANDY GLAZE

The perfect dessert to kick off the highly anticipated Fall season is a baked apple fritter monkey bread. The great thing about this family and friendly dessert is that it’s pretty much a finger food, but obviously you can spoon it.

There are some great Heinen’s spices that are incorporated here. Don’t skimp!

I used a smaller bundt pan, about 7”. If you make a large one, you’ll need 2 packs of Rhode’s dinner bread rolls.

In Ohio, apples are life in Harvest season. Since we’re getting oh-so-close, of course we have to incorporate some in a crowd pleaser dessert of monkey bread.

Heinen’s has amazing produce, and a variety of apples to choose from. I use honeycrisp for this dish. It’s the perfect tart and sweetness combination.

APPLE FRITTER MONKEY BREAD WITH APPLE BRANDY GLAZE RECIPE

Ingredients

Apples:

• 3 apples (honeycrisp, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

• 2 tbsp light brown sugar

• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 Tbsp lemon juice

• 1 Tbsp butter

• 1-2 Tbsp water, if needed*

Monkey Bread:

• 1-2 packs of Rhodes Yeast Dinner Rolls, thawed and still cold* - depending on your bundt pan size (or any yeast based frozen dinner roll packs)

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

• 2 cups brown sugar

• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp all spice

• 1 tsp pumpkin spice

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar or more depending on desired consistency

• 1-2 tbsp apple brandy, or regular brandy

• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

*THAW the yeast dinner rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet covered with sprayed plastic wrap for 1-2 hours at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator. Rolls should be thawed, but cold, and barely risen.

APPLES: Peel, core, and dice apples into 1/4-inch pieces. Toss with brown sugar, ground nutmeg, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add apples, and sauté for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until apples are fork tender and all liquid is gone. Cool slightly.

MONKEY BREAD: Cut thawed rolls into fourths. Place melted butter in one bowl, and mix together the brown sugar, all spice, pumpkin spice and cinnamon in another bowl.

Grease a bundt pan heavily with cooking spray. Put a layer of caramelized apples in the bottom. Dip each piece of dough into the melted butter, shake off any excess. Then coat the dough with the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture.

Alternate layering dough pieces and apple chunks in the bundt pan until all dough pieces are coated. Pour any remaining butter over the top. Cover the pan with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise up to 1 hour, or until the dough almost reaches the top of the pan. (*See note for overnight option.)

Bake in a preheated 350˚F oven for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown and bread is cooked completely where dough pieces touch together. Cover with foil if it's browning faster than the dough is baking.

Remove from oven and immediately invert the bundt pan onto a large plate. Be careful not to spill any of the hot and sticky butter-sugar mixture. Allow bread to cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

GLAZE: Whisk together the powdered sugar and apple brandy in a small bowl. Add vanilla extract. Drizzle over the slightly cooled monkey bread. Enjoy while warm. Store any leftovers in a container with a lid in the refrigerator.