Lemon Raspberry Monkey Bread
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Monkey bread, an item that has been a family tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. It was the breakfast item that my friends and I from elementary school to high school would quickly dig into after a sleepover. It was the dessert after a team dinner with my high school tennis team. It was the breakfast that my entire family would enjoy while opening presents on Christmas morning. And it was the breakfast that my mother would make for me when I came home during school breaks. While I love the cinnamon sugar biscuits covered in buttery cinnamon brown sugar glaze, I wanted to give the classic recipe a new twist. And so the lemon raspberry monkey bread was born! The lemon flavoring provides a refreshing taste, while the raspberry provides the needed addition of sweetness. This new take on my family recipe will surely be turning heads with both it's flavor and very colorful appearance! Whatever occasion you make this recipe for, whether a brunch with family or a dessert with friends, I can assure you that there won't be many leftovers!
Lemon Raspberry Monkey Bread
Prep time:
Bake time:
Serves: 12
Monkey Bread Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tubes (7.5 oz) Pillsbury biscuits
Glaze Ingredients:
- 1 cup raspberries
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Heavily grease a bundt pan with nonstick spray. For best results, also cut a large donut shape out of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of the bundt pan.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup sugar and lemon zest. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, make the lemon glaze by boiling together the 1 cup sugar, 3 Tablespoons butter, and lemon juice. Stir the glaze until the sugar has dissolved and the glaze is smooth.
- Open one tube of biscuits, and use scissors to cut each individual roll into quarters. Toss one tube worth of biscuits into the sugar/zest mixture, ensuring even coating.
- Place the coated biscuits into the bottom of the bundt pan. Spoon 1/4th of the lemon glaze over the rolls.
- Build the monkey bread layers by repeating steps 4-5 with the remaining 3 tubes of biscuits. Sprinkle the remaining sugar/zest mixture on top.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes until the biscuits are golden in color. Allow the monkey bread to cool for 5 minutes in the bundt pan.
- Invert the monkey bread by placing your serving plate over the top of the pan, and using both hands, flip the bundt pan/plate combo. To ensure easy release, hit the outside of the bundt pan with a wooden spoon before lifting pan away from monkey bread underneath.
- To make the glaze, blend 1 cup raspberries. Remove the seeds by straining the blended raspberries through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl. Discard the seeds.
- Stir in the powdered sugar until smooth. Pour the glaze over the monkey bread. Serve warm!
I used to make granola all the time in college thanks to acquiring the recipe of my favorite granola made at a local cafe. Strangely, I rarely make it now though, despite eating granola every day with yogurt. I have been wanting to develop a granola recipe for the site for a couple years now, but I always seem to fail whenever I attempt to develop one. I had a difficult time getting the perfect dry to wet ratio, and achieving the flavor and level of sweetness that I desire. I’m wondering if it is because I am being too critical of the recipes I have made, because after all I have sampled A LOT of different kinds of granolas. When I lived in Hawaii after college, my friend and I would frequently visit the local Whole Foods store with the sole intent to sample all of the granolas that they had in the bulk section. We did this nearly every day…
When reviewing my failed attempts, I realized that I was attempting to recreate granolas that I have enjoyed in the past. But I think that was my problem. No matter how good the recipe was, I was never going to be able to exactly recreate the flavors that I was attempting to recreate. So I decided to develop a recipe for a type of granola flavor that I had never had before in order to bypass my hypercritical granola taste buds.
Pulling inspiration from summer and our trip to Asia, I really wanted to incorporate a coconut flavor. After a couple variations, I landed on pairing the coconut with chocolate to create a rich and subtly sweet taste, which balances wonderfully with the creamy tang of a Greek yogurt. The best part about granola recipes are that they are easy to make. And one of the best things about THIS recipe is that while this granola is baking in the oven, your kitchen will smell like a coconut paradise! Seriously!