Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

Let me begin by telling you that I love cinnamon rolls!  Not all cinnamon rolls are created equal; some are good and some are not so good.  This doesn't stop me from collecting recipes for cinnamon rolls or those using cinnamon rolls.  This recipe I found on Pinterest (it originated at bakemore.com) and I'll be forever grateful that I found it and tried it.  The first time I made this cinnamon roll decadence, it was for the ladies in my discussion group at a Bible study I attend every Thursday.  I think every single one of them asked for a copy of the recipe, which I gladly handed out the next week.  Now to have my family try it.

I probably should have mentioned before that I try at least one new recipe each week.  In order to determine whether or not a recipe should be kept and made again, I ask my guys to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best ever.  They, however, never give anything a 10 as they think there is always room for improvement, so in my house, 9 is the new 10!  This offering got one 8 and two 9s on the Melnarik rating scale.  I believe in giving 10s, and that's what I give this recipe.

This recipe takes a bit of preparation.  I began by putting the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and mixing thoroughly.

Then, I opened the Grands cinnamon rolls and placed them on a cutting board.  Next, I cut each roll into quarters.

Each quarter got rolled in the cinnamon sugar mixture and placed in a greased bundt pan.  (The buns rise during baking, so make sure to use a pan where there's room to spare once all of the cinnamon roll pieces are in the pan.)

I used a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup to melt the butter in the microwave.  This allows plenty of room for stirring in the brown sugar and it makes it easy to pour in the next step!



After putting one-half of the rolls in the bundt pan, I poured about one-third of this mixture over the rolls.  This gave all of the rolls the ooey-gooey, buttery goodness.  Then I added the remainder of the rolls.






Finally, the last of the butter/brown sugar mixture was poured on.  About 20 minutes into the baking time, I  covered the pan loosely with foil to prevent the top rolls from getting too crusty.

The aroma in the kitchen was intoxicating and this is how wonderful the cinnamon roll pull apart bread looked when I inverted it onto my serving platter.  But there was one more step to add to the decadence of this breakfast treat!  If you remember, the containers that the cinnamon rolls came in had icing in them . . .

I waited about 5 minutes before adding the icing to the top and letting the hot cinnamon roll goodness melt it down the sides.  If you don't wait for it too cool a little bit, you'll have a pool of icing on the platter instead of mostly on the rolls.  This has got to be one of my favorite ways to feast on cinnamon rolls!  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

½ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ cup butter, melted

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 – 17.5 oz. cans Pillsbury Grands Cinnamon Rolls

Preheat oven to 350°.  In a shallow bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon; set aside.  Combine butter and brown sugar and stir until smooth; set aside.  (I melt my butter in a 2-cup measuring cup in the microwave and then add the brown sugar to the butter.  This way it’s easy to pour over the rolls in the pan.)  Remove cinnamon rolls from cans and cut into quarters.  Roll each piece in cinnamon sugar and place in a greased bundt pan.  After placing half of the rolls in the pan, re-stir the brown sugar/butter mixture if necessary and pour about 1/3 of the mixture over rolls.  Continue adding the pieces, which have been rolled in the cinnamon sugar, into the bundt pan.  Pour the remaining butter/brown sugar mixture over the rolls.  Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until the rolls are firm or “springy” when pressed.  To prevent over-browning of the rolls at the top of the pan, loosely place foil over the top of the pan after approximately 20 minutes.  Invert onto a large plate or platter.  Let stand for 5 min. before adding the icing.  Only add the icing to the top as the heat melts it and it runs down the sides on it’s own.  Enjoy!