In my years of baking, and almost constant recipe development I can tell you without hesitation that no recipe ever made me more pleased that this ridiculously delicious Monkey Bread did today. It is TO DIE FOR.
Don’t know what Monkey Bread is? That needs to change. Think: Biscuit dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar and then placed into a bundt pan. You finish things off with drizzling caramel all over the top and then you bake- and it becomes a masterpiece. The outside of each piece reminds me of a perfectly fried donut- while the inside is soft and biscuit like. The flavor is perfect, the texture is perfect. This monkey bread will make Christmas morning an experience that your family will never forget. If you can have eggs, and the other ingredients that I call for MAKE IT.
Before we bake lets do our usual, and talk SUBSTITUTIONS:
- Use Blanched Almond flour for the very best results. Bob’s almond flour, and almond meal are both course and will not provide you with the same results.
- Can’t have almonds? Make your own nut or seed flour using any other nut/seed of choice. I suspect that Hazelnut, Macadamias, Cashews or Sunflower seeds turned into flour would all taste great! To do this simply run the nut or seed in a high powdered blender or coffee grinder until you have a super fine flour. (If the flour is course- the recipe might not work as well.)
- Coconut flour WILL NOT WORK. (It never ever works as a replacement for Almond Flour!) And any of the grain based flours will NOT work. Stick to the nuts and seeds
- The eggs are needed- don’t try to remove them. Let me explain why: Grain Free baked goods are low in starch typically.. The starch content in flour is what “soaks up, and drinks” the moisture in baked goods when they are in the oven so that they cook through. Almond flour is low in starch and therefore only soaks up very small amounts of moisture. (the other nut/seed flours are the same: low starch, little moisture absorption). Eggs are a magical ingredient because not only do they provide liquid to recipes to create the right texture of batter, but they also completely “dry up and harden” when in the oven. NO other egg replacer has the ability to mimic this “sucking up moisture and drying out” sort of action to the extent that eggs do. You will notice in this recipe I have not called for any liquid outside of the eggs. The eggs are used in the biscuits to make the batter the right texture and also because they gurantee that the biscuits are going to cook through in the oven. Additionally, to grain free baked goods eggs provide lift and rise which is otherwise virtually impossible to obtain. Almond flour is very heavy, and baking powder/soda on their own don’t have enough oomph to give Almond flour a lift. This is why it is hard to find recipes that are both grain and egg free. Using regular egg replacers (such as a Chia “egg” , Flax “egg”, or applesauce) work great in recipes that use flours that are high in starch – this high starch content will gurantee that they cook through, and that they will still rise well in the oven- even without any eggs. Moral of the story- if you can’t have eggs, use a basic gluten free/ egg free biscuit recipe instead! (I have an incredible recipe in my first cookbook- the Essential Gluten free Baking Guide part 1).
Grain Free Monkey Bread
Caramel Sauce:
- 1/2 Cup Butter (dairy or nondairy) OR Coconut Oil
- 1 Cup Coconut Palm Sugar or Sucanat or regular brown sugar ( granulated maple sugar may work too!)
- 1/4 cup heavy coconut cream (skimmed from the top of a chilled can) OR Mimiccream (nut cream) or regular heavy cream.
Biscuits:
- 4 packed cups of blanched almond flour.
- 1 packed Cup Starch (Potato or Tapioca Starch).
- 1 Tsp. Salt
- 1 1/4 Tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 Cup Butter (dairy or nondairy), Bacon Lard or Shortening.
- 4 Large Eggs
- 2 Tsp. Lemon Juice or Vinegar
Sugar Biscuit Coating
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Organic Cane Sugar or Sucanat or Coconut Palm Sugar or Granulated Maple. (xylitol & Erithritol *might* work I haven’t tested them out yet)
- 2 Tsp. Cinnamon.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a non-stick bundt pan.
- Make the caramel. Combine all caramel ingredients (butter, sugar and cream) into a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Turn on stove and heat until the mixture has started to gently boil and the sugar has melted (it should look like a thin caramel sauce- this will only take a few minutes). Turn off stove and set aside.
- Make the biscuits: In a large bowl combine the Almond Flour, Starch, Salt and Baking Soda. Cut in the butter until it becomes pea sized.
- In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and lemon juice. Pour the mixture into the big bowl of flour. Gently stir until it just barely becomes a dough that holds together well.
- In a small bowl or in a plastic bag mix together the sugar and cinnamon. This will be use to roll the biscuit dough in.
- Take tablespoon sized pieces of biscuit dough and gently roll them into balls. Roll the dough in the bowl of sugar (or shake it in a plastic bag- 1 or 2 pieces at a time). Until the dough is fully covered in sugar and cinnamon. Line the sugar coated dough in the bottom of the bundt pan. Continue with all the dough and slowly layer it in a circle. You will end up with 2-3 rows of monkey bread bites stacked on top of each other when you are finished.
- After all of the biscuit pieces are in place- pour the caramel sauce evenly over the biscuit dough (letting it seep into all of the nooks and crannies).
- Place the pan into the oven (on the middle shelf) and bake 45-50 minutes. Cover the pan with tinfoil after the first 25 minutes of baking (to prevent the top from burning.) After the full time in the oven- remove and allow to cool 20 minutes.
- Carefully cut around the edges of the pan and then flip the monkey bread onto a plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.
From my home to yours.. Happy Holidays.
-Brittany-
PS. The fun giveaways are continuing on my Facebook Page. Tonight- I’m sharing 2- 5 lb bags of Blanched Almond Flour with two different winners. (One in the US and one in Canada). Compliments of Jk Gourmet. This flour is beautiful to work with, I LOVE using it. Additionally JK Gourmet carries a number of grain free baking mixes- something that otherwise is very hard to find! Best of all their products are available for order in both Canada and the US. Head over to facebook to enter.
{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
I Love Almond Flour! My favorite way to use Almond flour this Christmas is making Chocolate Peppermint Mini Doughnuts with Coconut Flake Sprinkles! Thank you so much for this offer, and thank you for all your delicious posts!
USA...
I like to use almond flower in cookies for my (2) sets of twins! Yes.... 2 sets. double the cookies double the fun!
Looks and sounds soooo yummy! I had been tempted to try this with your Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll dough, but chickened out. Very happy you came up with this!
Looks delicious. Unfortunately my daughter is not able to eat starch of any kind. Do you have any suggestions to substitute? I love your website/blog and recipes!
Lauralee,
I don't do starch of any kind either. In Brittany's 'Cranberry buttermilk breakfast cake' recipe it called for 3/4 c. starch. I substituted 1/2 tbsp Glucomannan powder and 1Tbsp of coconut flour instead. That worked pretty well but I had to cut the oil from 1/3 c. to 2 Tbsp and the milk from 1 c + 1 Tbsp down to 3 Tbsp because it was coming out way too moist. Those subs worked perfectly!
I haven't tried that substitution yet with this recipe but I plan to. I'll let you know how it goes.
If you're not familiar with glucomannan powder, you should do a little research. It's derived from the root of the Konjac plant and it is 100% soluble fiber with no fat, protein, sugar, or starch. It's also gluten free and wheat free. But it is 10 times more viscous than starch so recipes must be adjusted accordingly. It is usually used as a thickener in liquids (like gravies) but I'm experimenting with baking with it.
Good luck!
I know my kids will love this for Christmas morning!
A little constructive criticism, because I've been interested in your recipes and followed your site for awhile. It is SO unfriendly to make pins on Pinterest that go back to your main site instead of directly to your recipe. Do you really want to make it so much harder for readers to find what they want? I know why you do it but how about instead trusting in your fabulous content? Readers will come back and search for more when they see how creative your recipes are! Please consider stopping the practice of Pinning to your main site. It's so mean to your real fans. Much respect from a interested follower, I can't wait to see what you make next!
Maggie- I'm not sure what you are talking about as I am NOT creating pins to my homepage!! Perhaps someone else is??
And what do you mean " you know why I do it"???
I use a wordpress plugin to use my Pinterest.. I wonder if it isn't working properly..
Which recipe in the book? We can't find it
Hi Mary! " buttermilk biscuits". Page 68 ( book 1)
Ps. You may need to double that recipe!
Before going gluten-free, I'd never had monkey bread... but since then, I've seen it all over the blog world, but never done gluten-free. Well done! I've tried making almond flour recipes subbing out ground sunflower seeds and can say that it DOES work for people that are wondering.
I was wondering! Thank you!
You continue to amaze! This will be great for Christmas morning brunch!
Thanks so much!
Hey i was just wondering if i can make this without a heavy bottom pan. i don't have one and i am kind of new to this baking thing. any suggestions would be amazing!!!I made your brownie cookie bars they other day and they were so good! thanks for all the hard work you do.
Any saucepan should do! Since this caramel isn't heated that hot. ( I just happen to use a heavy bottomed one
Hello Brittany,
. I wanted to mention that I live in the pacific northwest and I have found the recipes to be dry, and have needed to add about 1/4 cup of shortening type substatute... ok, I confess, I eat gee so that's what I used....I don't know why things are drier up here (Portland area) but every GF recipe I try I have to add in more apple sauce/shortening.... Thanks for mentioning the almond flour yesterday. I wondered why mine is gritty in some recipes, and I use Bob's red mill. Keep up the good work!
thank you for your recipes. They turn out wonderful and it's so nice to eat healthier! I pass out the dishes to friends who eat wheat, and they love them. Whoo hoo right??
This recipe looks amazing and easy to make to boot. I simply adore your hair in the new photo. Do you have all that curl and that color naturally? Anyway, it's gorgeous and you are too cute. Thanks for all of your hard work on this blog!
Awe thanks!!!
not quite that curly on its own.
My hair is wavy
This looks amazing! We had to tweet it and add it to our "Safe Christmas" Pinterest board. Happy holidays. Your fans, Plate It Safe.
Just curious why not coconut flour? If you do use coconut flour what alterations or substitutions would you use? I am allergic to gluten and all nuts and love coconut flour and have found it for the most part to be much like nut flours. Please help. Thank you!
Hi. Does anyone know if this could be kept uncooked overnight in the fridge and baked in the morning? Thanks! Looks delicious.
I would not recommend that- the baking soda and lemon juice will react In your fridge rather than in the oven.. So the bread won't rise as much in the oven.
The caramel can be made in advance though!
Thank you!
WOW! This looks amazing!!!
My mom used to make a monkey bread using the same method of rolling individual (yeast roll dough! EEK!) and then dipping each in a stick of melted butter. She would serve them in place of dinner rolls! I've really missed them! Do you think I could do the same thing with your recipe here by just eliminating the sauce and the sugar?
How does this taste the day after? Is it dense?
Look delish! Can any of this be prepared the night before...or can it all be and then just put in the oven in the morning? I'd like to make it for tomorrow morning, but if I can premake it today, it is far more likely to happen!
Yeah- I like the texture the day it's made the best. But if you heat it up when serving the day after its really good that way too!
First I do want to express appreciation of this blog and all your work on it!
Your excitement made me excited to try this recipe but it was a BIG FAIL --on Christmas eve
The texture is all wrong for monkey bread in mine (more grainy than doughy) and then I had never baked with my ownsunflower seed flour before (ground in my blendtec) and had no idea it would turn GREEN! My 7 year old refuses to eat it because of that no matter how hard I try to convince her it is festive. I realize most households won't havesuch a picky eater but wanted to warn others if they read comments and have not yet been initiated into baking with sunflower seeds (elsewhere online this green effect is discussed so it't normal and to be expected). I don't know if the texture has to do with how I ground the flour or just the way therecipe is. I think I will be back to sticking to coconut flour recipes after this as I can't seem to ruin those but rarely have luck with almond flour recipes 
... There are some great coconut flour based donut recipes that I think would be a great start on monkey bread recipe so I may experiment in that direction later this week.
Brittany,
We had these for breakfast today, Christmas. They are amazing. We loved them and they came out really nice. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes. We love REal Sustenance around here.
Merry Christmas.
Good morning! I made your monkey bread for a Christmas gathering for my family and then two days later used the leftovers to make a dairy free bread pudding. THank you for giving us such great holiday treats! You are a blessing to my family.
My dough was very sticky and wet, is that normal?
No- it should have been a dry biscuit like dough. Did you use blanched almond flour? ( if you used bobs or almond meal that would explain your dough being wet.)
I live in NYC and don't have room for a bundt pan. A glass one work fine? Other ways to make it look festive?
Monkey Bread has been a Christmas tradition with us for years. When we went GF it was one of the few things both my husband I knew we would miss. I'm so happy that we won't be losing our Christmas tradition. Thank you!!!
Hi I'm new to this eliminination game. Your site is great. I want to try making this for my son but wondering why this is not corn and soy free. Is there something or some ingredient I'm not seeing that is soy, corn or corn derivitive?
This looks amazing!!! Can I use arrowroot powder for the starch? Also, do you know the carb count for these?
Thanks!
Can I use arrowroot powder for the starch? Also, do you know the carb count for these?
Thanks!
Technically you can.. but the texture wont be as good if you were to use Potato Starch.
This recipe looks amazing! I have to invite people over to try it.
Can I use coconut oil instead of the 1 c of butter in the recipe?
thanks!
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