This cinnamon sugar monkey bread is the perfect copycat for the McDonald’s cinnamon melts, but BETTER. It’s dairy- and egg-free and almost fool proof. Adapted from my vegan cinnamon rolls recipe, this monkey bread is a crowd pleaser! And if you’re not accustomed to working with yeast, don’t worry! I’ve got a few tips and tricks that will help you below.
Something else that’s great about monkey bread is that it’s the perfect addition to breakfast, star of the show for dessert, or as a snack! This recipe keeps well for 3-4 days. I simply pop mine into the microwave for 10-20 seconds and it tastes like it just came out of the oven.
And a note for anyone living outside of Canada, sugar in Canada is vegan and is not processed using bone char. I received a comment on my vegan cinnamon rolls recipe, so I thought I would clear things up.
Here’s the recipe:
Serves: 8-9
Ingredients
For the Dough
3 ¼ cups (405g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup (250mL) unsweetened almond milk, at 40-46oC
½ cup unsalted Becel plant-based butter, at room temperature
3 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp (9g) instant yeast, not active dry
Pinch of salt
For the Coating
½ cup unsalted Becel plant-based butter, melted
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
3 tbsp cinnamon
¼ cup Silk vanilla coffee creamer
For the Frosting
1 ½ cup icing sugar, sifted
3-4 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
Directions
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add all of the dough ingredients and mix until all of the ingredients are combined (~3 minutes). Then allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes.
Switch the paddle attachment for the dough hook attachment and continue to mix for another 7 minutes – the dough should be smooth and pull away from the sides of the bowl. Cover your bowl with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm area to rest and proof for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
While the dough is proofing, prepare the coating ingredients. Place the melted butter in a separate bowl, and mix the brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon together in another bowl.
After the dough has proofed, transfer the dough onto a floured surface and roll into a rectangle that is 1 – 2 cm thick. Using a bench scraper or knife, cut the rectangle into small squares (I cut 10 columns and 12 rows, totalling 120 pieces).
Dip each square into the melted butter, then coat with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Then place each square into a greased Bundt cake pan, staggering the pieces to make a mosaic effect.
Repeat step 5 with all of the squares, then cover the pan with a damp tea towel and place in a warm area to rise for another hour, or until doubled in size.
While the monkey bread is rising, preheat the oven to 375oC.
After the monkey bread has doubled in size, pour the coffee creamer evenly over the dough and bake for 20 minutes.
While the monkey bread is baking, prepare the frosting by whisking all of the ingredients together in a bowl.
Allow to cool for 10 – 15 minutes, then flip the monkey bread onto a plate*.
Drizzle the frosting over the monkey bread, allowing some to drip over the sides.
*You don’t want the monkey bread to cool completely because the cinnamon sugar will harden and make it very difficult to remove from the pan!
