Monkey Bread With Canned Biscuits

Why Canned Biscuits Work

• No rising time. The dough is ready when you open the can.
• Homestyle or buttermilk cans. Flaky-layer biscuits fall apart; avoid those.
• Gooey caramel poured over the top. Butter and brown sugar melt down through every piece.
• Short cool before flipping. Ten minutes sets the caramel just enough to invert cleanly.

What You'll Need

• Two cans refrigerated biscuits. 16.3-ounce homestyle or buttermilk (16 biscuits total).
• Granulated sugar and cinnamon. For coating.
• Butter, brown sugar, vanilla. For the caramel sauce.
• Optional pecans. For crunch between layers.
• Bundt pan. 10- or 12-cup, greased thoroughly.

How to Make It

Heat the oven to 350°F and grease a Bundt pan well, into every groove. Mix cinnamon and sugar in a large zip-top bag. Cut each biscuit into quarters, shake in the cinnamon sugar a handful at a time, and layer into the pan with pecans if using.

Melt butter and brown sugar until smooth and just bubbling, then stir in vanilla and salt. Pour evenly over the biscuits. Set the pan on a rimmed sheet to catch drips and bake 35–40 minutes, until deep golden and the center pieces are cooked through, not doughy. Cool 10 minutes (no longer), invert onto a plate, and scrape any caramel left in the pan over the top. Serve warm.

Troubleshooting

• Doughy middle. Underbaked, or pieces packed too tightly in a small pan. Bake until the center springs back; tent with foil if the top browns early.
• Greasy. Too much butter in the sauce, or the pan wasn't drained of extra melted butter after flipping.
• Stuck to the pan. Not greased well enough, or cooled too long so the caramel hardened. Grease generously and flip at 10 minutes.
• Bland. Light on cinnamon sugar, or biscuits weren't coated on all sides.

Pan Guide

Variations

• Orange. Add 1 teaspoon orange zest to the cinnamon sugar.
• Cream cheese. Stuff a small cube of cream cheese into some biscuit pieces before coating.
• Glaze. Whisk powdered sugar with milk and drizzle after flipping.
• Savory. Skip cinnamon sugar; use garlic butter and parmesan instead (different recipe energy, same method).

Make Ahead for Holiday Mornings

Assemble the coated biscuits in the greased pan the night before, cover, and refrigerate. Make the caramel in the morning, pour it on, and add 5 extra minutes to the bake since the pan is cold. Don't pour caramel the night before or the biscuits turn soggy.

Storing

Best warm the day it's baked. Because of the butter caramel, refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and eat within 3–4 days. Reheat pieces in a 300°F oven for 8–10 minutes or microwave briefly until warm. Freezing is okay wrapped tightly up to 1 month; thaw in the fridge and reheat in the oven.

What to Serve With It

Coffee, fruit, scrambled eggs, or cracker barrel hashbrown casserole. For dessert mode, set it near no-bake Biscoff cheesecake.

Cook's Tips

• Kitchen scissors cut biscuit quarters faster than a knife.
• The sheet under the Bundt catches caramel drips and saves the oven floor.
• If the top browns before the center is done, tent loosely with foil.