Mini Almond Cream Monkey Bread made with leftover croissant dough. Or any dough for that matter! 3 little monkey bread batches that are soft, buttery, and layered with almond cream – plus the classic flavors of cinnamon and sugar. This is a great recipe if you are looking for ways to use leftover dough scraps!
What Is Monkey Bread
Better yet – why is it called monkey bread?! Here is the Wiki for you, but the short answer – it is called monkey bread because you use your fingers to eat it. Cute.
It is also referred to as ‘Pull-Apart Bread‘ or ‘Bubble Bread‘. The classic versions of monkey bread include:
- Dough – either homemade or pre-made. I’m very familiar with pre-made monkey bread using the dough in the tubes. You know the kind.
- Cinnamon + Sugar – the dough is shaped into balls and coated with the sugary mix. Imagine the flavor possibilities with this … (cardamom anyone? 🙂 )
- Butter – usually melted with some brown sugar and poured over the top. We are omitting this step for this recipe. It is being replaced with the Almond Butter Cream.
Does Monkey Bread Need To Be Baked In A Bundt Pan
No. My opinion – the classic recipes use a bundt pan because you get more crispy edges when you pull-apart the pieces. I think this is brilliant. That said, if you don’t have a bundt pan, I think a loaf pan or deeper cake pan would work too.
For this recipe, we are using mini bundt pans. We want the crispy edges on more piece and they are just too darn cute! These are the mini bundt pans I use.
Using Croissant Dough Scraps
I love monkey bread and I’m surprised I haven’t posted a recipe for it yet. Then I made my homemade Croissants. I was faced with the dilemma of all of the leftover dough scraps after I shaped the croissants.
And I prefer not to waste food – even if it is just dough. You should see my freezer … then again, maybe not.
Coming up with monkey bread as a way to use the dough scraps was not far-fetched. I mean croissants = breakfast = donuts = cinnamon + sugar = monkey bread. You can see the thought process.
What I love about the idea of using croissant dough for monkey bread, is you know the result will be buttery and flaky. Just like a croissant. Even better, I took the idea of my Almond Croissants and added the Almond Cream (fancy title for straight-up-delicious-almond-butter) instead of the brown sugar butter that is usually poured over the top.
The result – Yum.
Almond Cream In Monkey Bread
More on the almond cream. Yes, it is essentially an almond flavored butter. However, the egg and flour act as a binder, and the result is little pockets of almond butter beads.
You will not miss the traditional brown sugar butter syrup with the almond cream. The dough is already super buttery and moist and when you add dollops of almond butter, the monkey bread will be moist and tender.
Not to mention the brown sugar butter syrup may overwhelm the flavors in this particular treat. So we’ll reserve the brown sugar syrup for the next batch!
Small Batch Monkey Bread Treat
Given we are using leftover dough scraps, it makes sense this would be a small batch treat. Depending on how you roll and cut the croissants, it is hard for me to say for certain how much dough you will have leftover.
I managed 3 decent sized Mini Almond Cream Monkey Bread. And if you prefer to try to make the monkey bread in one baking vessel, that can work. I will caveat that with – it will depend on the size of your baking vessel.
You want to give yourself enough room for the dough to rise. But you also don’t want too much room that you end up with a thin layer of monkey bread.
Tips For Making Mini Almond Cream Monkey Bread
- Use leftover dough – I recommend croissant dough, but any dough would work. Monkey bread is a great recipe to use up dough scraps.
- Dough options – If you don’t have leftover dough, and don’t want to make a batch of croissants just to have monkey bread, use store-bought biscuit dough.
- Use the cinnamon + sugar liberally – Coat the dough one, two, or even three times. You can even sprinkle the leftovers mix over the top.
- Use the almond cream liberally – Lots of teaspoon-sized dollops in between the dough balls!
- Don’t eat raw almond cream – It has all-purpose flour and an egg in it. As tempting as it may be to schmear this on toast or the top of the monkey bread, it needs to be cooked.
- Enjoy the Monkey Bread warm – It not only pulls apart more easily when warm, it just tastes better.
More Bread & Dough Recipes
- Easy Homemade Soft Pretzels
- Caramel Apple Sweet Rolls
- Almond Croissants
- Homemade Bagels
- Apple Brown Sugar Hand Pies
Mini Almond Cream Monkey Bread
Equipment
Ingredients
Almond Cream
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup blanched almond flour
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- pinch salt
- 1 large egg yolk (room temperature)
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
Cinnamon Sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Grease the mini bundt pans. Note – The mini bundt pans can be tricky to balance on the oven rack without falling through the grates. You can set the bundt pans on a cookie sheet to bake.
- Add the cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar to a shallow baking dish. Stir to combine and set aside.
Almond Cream
- You can use either a stand mixer or a hand held mixer. In the mixing bowl, add the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy. Next, add the almond flour, all-purpose flour, and salt and mix until combined. Lastly, add the egg yolk and almond extract and beat until smooth and creamy.
- The almond cream is ready to use immediately, or can be refrigerated until ready to use.
Monkey Bread
- Using the dough scraps leftover from the croissants – cut the dough scraps into about 2-inch pieces. Roll the scraps into balls. Note – how many mini monkey bread you can make depends on the amount of croissant dough scraps you have left. I was able to make 3 mini monkey bread from the croissant recipe.
- Roll the dough balls (liberally) through the cinnamon and sugar. Place one layer of dough balls in the prepared bundt pans. Top with teaspoon-sized dollops of almond cream. Repeat. Finishing with dollops of almond cream on top. Optional – Sprinkle each layer with the leftover cinnamon sugar.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Cool in the bundt pans set on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Then carefully invert the bundt pans onto serving plates and serve warm.
RECIPE NOTES
This recipe uses leftover dough scraps from my Croissant recipe.
- If you are not making croissants for the dough – You can swap for pre-made biscuit dough. 1 can should be enough for 3 mini bundt pans.
- If you are making croissants for the dough – Leftover dough from the croissants can be stored covered tightly in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
- How many mini monkey bread will depend on the amount of croissant dough scraps you have. I was able to make 3 mini monkey bread from the croissant recipe.
- I used these 4-inch mini bundt pans.
- The almond cream needs to be cooked/baked because of the all-purpose flour and egg. I do not recommend eating it raw.
about the author ...
I'm Erin and I'm all about desserts - and a little bit of butter!
I've tested, written, and photographed hundreds of recipes on my website. Here you'll find the tastiest small batch gluten free and traditional desserts - all homemade, all simple, and all for you!
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