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Sometimes, you just should not mess with a good thing.
Like your mom’s recipes.
Especially when she only has a handful of them. Seriously, do not be stupid like me and try to make them better or give them more of a wow factor. It just does not work.
I tried with the monkey bread and failed.
Miserably.
Alright, is was not that bad and the bread was still pretty delicious, but hers is better.
So that is what I am showing you today. Actually, over the next three days I will be showing you all recipes that come from my mom. It is crunch time and that just means, everyone wants and needs easy recipes. Well, my mom? Yeah, she totally has you guys covered.
Two of the recipes actually completely break all my food “rules”. Which is really, just use homemade ingredients, never store-bought.
But it is Christmas and tradition is tradition.
FYI, I love traditions. So I will not be breaking them anytime soon.
We eat this monkey bread on Christmas morning and only Christmas morning every single year!
The secret to her monkey bread?
Butterscotch pudding. Yes, yes, yes. It is simply amazing. Some people put their pudding in cookies, but my mom coats her monkey bread in it. I know, she is a genius.
It is an incredible treat for Christmas morning, warm rich and gooey. The best part is that it is so simple! Just make the bread on Christmas Eve and then pop it in the oven on Christmas morning.
Here is the thing, with this batch of monkey bread you see here. Honestly, it normally looks like ten times gooier, sweeter and well… just better.
But this was the first thing I made in the new kitchen and man, can I just say that getting adjusted to a new kitchen and new light is terrible.
Uhg. So not fun.
Anyway, this new kitchen has this terrible “decorative” oven. Kind of like this one. Meaning it is meant to look old and fancy, but honestly, is the worst thing ever. I have decided it just sucks the juice out everything, but somehow manages to still not actually cook anything. Oh, and I should also mention that this oven does not even fit a cookie sheet in it. WHAT?!? Now seriously, how can I work with that?
Anyway, what I am trying to say is that this bread actually should look better when you make it. The coating creates its own gooey sauce and it is just awesome.
I mean, this bread still tasted awesome, but the looks just were not quite there. Bummer.
Mom’s Ridiculously Easy Butterscotch Monkey Bread.
Servings: 16 servings
Calories Per Serving: 673 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2-3 loaves of defrosted Rhodes bread dough
- 3 boxes butterscotch pudding mix do not use instant
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- Grab 3 medium size prep bowls. Add the melt the butter to the first, the butterscotch pudding to the second and brown sugar to the third.
- Grab your defrosted bread dough loaves and, using a sharp knife, cut the dough into bite size (or larger if you're in a hurry - this is my mom's way, she is always in a hurry!) pieces. Working one piece at a time, dip the balls into the melted butter, allowing excess butter to drip back into bowl, then butterscotch pudding and then roll through the brown sugar. Layer the balls evenly in your greased bundt pan. Repeat with the remaining balls. If you have any butter, butterscotch pudding or brown sugar left over pour or sprinkle the leftover over on top the bread.
- Cover the Bundt pan with plastic wrap and place in warm place for 40 to 45 minutes or place in the fridge overnight. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place the monkey bread on a cookie sheet and bake for about 40-50 minutes until the crust is a deep dark brown on top. When it's finished cooking, remove it from the oven and allow it to sit for about 10-15 minutes. The turn the bundt over onto a plate for 5 minutes or so. Serve warm!
This is how Gerard’s eat, no extra plates necessary. And I am not going to lie, we almost never use forks with it either.
*Oh and Don’t forget to enter to win A KitchenAid Stand mixer. The giveaway is going to be ending soon!! Enter here!
I love your photography! It always catches my eye. And this looks delicious!
Thank you so much, Erin! That means a lot! Happy New Year!
This was by far the best Christmas morning breakfast treat ever. My family went nuts and coukd barely wait the 15 minutes until it cooled. I served it with a goat cheese and spinich frittata and the combination was fabulous. The great thing about this bread was definitely being able to make a yeast bread the night before and then pop it in the oven while we opened presents. Thanks for sharing your Mother’s recipe so that many other families could share in this Christmas delight! I hope lots of people try this as it really is amazing given the short prep time.
I am so happy to read this!! I love that the tradition was carried on! Thanks for making it and Merry Christmas!
I made these today – they were delicious. The thing is I only had one box of instant butterscotch pudding and one box of Cook & Serve butterscotch pudding. I kept my two puddings separate to see if they would turn out different and which would be better. The instant pudding side looked just like yours – not so gooey, but taste is wonderful. The Cook & Serve pudding tasted just as wonderful, but they were gooey, gooey, gooey. Try Cook & Serve next Christmas! Thanks (to you and your mom) for the great recipe.
Haha! So funny you said something! I realized later that I bought the wrong boxes!! I have updated the recipe, but man you are smart! 🙂
Thanks Julie! SO happy you love this Julie!
I love the butterscotch pudding in this recipe, yum!
Thank you so much, Brenda! It is my mom secret!
Have Merry Christmas!
I have never made monkey bread before. I need to change that pronto! Adding puddings sounds like a wonderful idea!
Thanks so much, Laura! The pudding is the secret ingredient!
looks yummy. I have a few questions.
“defrosted Rhodes bread dough” -does that mean you let the dough rise? if it’s thawed out, it’s going to rise correct?
“place in warm place for 40 to 45 minutes or place in the fridge overnight” – how warm of a place? why is it ok to be in a cold refrigerator if it needs to be in a warm place?
“Place the monkey bread on a cookie sheet and bake for about 40-50 minutes until the crust is a deep dark brown on top.” – so does that mean you take it out of the bundt pan before you bake it?
Hey Rose!!
For the bread, you just let it defrost until the dough is soft and workable. I like to take it out about 2 days before I make this and let it defrost in the fridge. If you need it to defrost sooner follow the direction on the back of the rhodes bread dough bag.
Ok, and for the rising you just need to place the dough in a warm, draft free room. If you put it in the fridge this will slow down the rising and will allow it to sit overnight until you are ready to bake it.
DO NOT take the monkey bread out of the bundt pan to bake it. Place the whole bunt pan on a baking sheet and bake until the top is golden brown.
Hope that helps and let me know if you have any more questions!
Merry Christmas!
Tieghan, this sounds amazing!! And I’m with you, don’t mess with a good thing. Sometimes Moms know best. 🙂 Merry Christmas!
Thanks Annalise!
Hope you have a Merry Christmas!!!
I got all the ingredients for this today but at the store I could only remember, Rhodes, so I got dinner rolls instead of bread. I’m sure it’ll work just fine! Can’t wait to have this for Christmas morning.
Yup! Those will work great!!
Hope you love this as much as we do!! Thanks for making it and Merry Christmas!!! 🙂
These photos are seriously so gorgeous! Love me some white backdrops. Merry Christmas, my dear!
Thanks so much, Sophie!
Merry Christmas to you and your family as well!
Gorgeous, I would inhale this bread!
Thank you, Laura!
Merry Christmas!
T- girl
Your mom made these for a shower I went to a long time ago!,
They have made the thanksgiving table ever since. A Gerard family favorite:)
Keep up the great work. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Thanks so much, Jackie!!
Wish you guys were here with us! Maggie, Abby, Little Matt and Uncle Matt are all here!
Hope you guys have a very Merry Christmas! 🙂
This looks amazing! Go mom! They always seem to know best, huh? It looks so gooey and delicious. Traditions are definitely some of the most fun parts of this time of year. Yay for family traditions!
Thanks erin!
Merry Christmas!
I hear you, girl! I almost never cook with “artificial” ingredients of any kind. But all that seems to fly out the window at Christmastime when those mom & grandmother recipes come out.
No matter what the ingredients, tradition is tradition. And there is nothing (and I mean nothing!) like a good ‘ole mom recipe. I have plenty of them! And it’s recipes like this monkey bread that can be passed down generations. It looks amazing, Tieghan! For the record – butterscotch pudding is my favorite flavor.
I bet your mom is proud 🙂 Can’t wait to see her next recipe!
Yes, yes, yes! You said it!
Thanks so much, Sally and I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!!! 🙂 I know your house is going to smell amazing!
One of my fave ways to use pudding mix is in my banana bread. I’ve stopped doing it as much lately for the blog b/c I always get too many, but I cant get pudding, but pudding mix has xyz in it, etc so it’s just easier to not go there, but my fave banana bread has it included! I can only imagine how GOOD these rolls are, Tieghan! Thank your mom for the great recipe and thanks for sharing it!
Pudding mix in banana bread? I bet that is awesome!! Is the recipe on you site? I need to check it out!
Thanks Averie!
The second half of this page http://www.averiecooks.com/category/bread/quickbread there’s about 8 banana recipe recipes, pumpkin-banana, zuke-banana, original banana bread, carrotcake-banana, etc. and they all use it. I do get lots of ‘I can’t get pudding mix’ comments so I’ve moved away from it on my blog BUT off the blog, the results are soooo good!