Orange Cinnamon Sweet Roll Monkey Bread

“Fantastic” “OMG” “Amazing” “MMM” said our taste testers!!!

Remember those Pillsbury Refrigerated Orange Rolls? This Orange Cinnamon Sweet Roll Monkey Bread recipe takes those flavors and makes them 1000% better!

Homemade orange kissed sweet roll yeast dough is combined with butter and orange scented cinnamon sugar, a gooey brown sugar syrup, then baked until fluffy, sticky and golden brown in a Bundt pan. While still warm the monkey bread is drizzled with a simple orange glaze. it’s fun to pull off pieces of monkey bread to enjoy or it can alternatively be served in slices like coffee cake!

This monkey bread recipe doesn’t start with refrigerated biscuit dough or frozen bread dough. It’s made with fluffy orange scented homemade sweet roll dough. So it takes a little more time (most of it passive time – for the dough to rise), but for me it was such a delight to make – and 100% worth the time! Will definitely be a crowd pleaser!

Steps to Make: Orange Cinnamon Sweet Roll Monkey Bread:

Orange Cinnamon Sweet Roll Monkey Bread:

Remember those refrigerated orange cinnamon rolls? This Orange Cinnamon Sweet Roll Monkey Bread recipe takes those flavors and makes them so much better! Homemade orange kissed sweet roll yeast dough is combined with butter and orange scented cinnamon sugar, a gooey brown sugar syrup, then baked until fluffy, sticky and golden brown in a Bundt pan. While still warm the monkey bread is drizzled with a simple orange glaze. Then it's fun to pull off pieces of monkey bread to enjoy or it can alternatively be served in slices like coffee cake!

Tina Verrelli – epicuricloud.com

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Course: Bread, Breakfast/Brunch, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bread, cinnamon, monkey bread, orange, rolls, yeast dough

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Rising Time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 3 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 servings

Equipment

• 1 Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
• 1 Large Bundt Pan – mine is listed as 10-15 cup capacity. You will need all of that 15 cup capacity – if unsure – fill you pan up with water a measure to make sure it fits 15 cups.

Ingredients

Sweet Roll Dough:

• 540 grams flour (4 cups) I used King Arthur Flour – (11.7% Protein)
• 1 packet yeast, instant/rapid (1/4 oz. or 7 grams or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter – cut into chunks room temperature
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• 1 cup milk room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest from approx. 1 orange
• oil for greasing bowl for rising

Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

• non-stick baking spray
• 1/2 cup butter melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons orange zest from approx. 1 orange

Syrup:

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons orange juice from zested orange

Orange Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons orange juice from zested orange

Instructions 

I mix and knead this dough with my KitchenAid Stand Mixer – fitted with dough hook using speed 2. You could alternatively mix and knead this dough by hand. (but you will need to knead longer than stated in directions.)

• Combine the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in bowl, stir to mix.
• Add butter, eggs, milk, vanilla and orange zest.
• Mix to combine and form a shaggy dough – about 1 minute. (at this point I cover and let the dough rest 15-30 minutes) but if you don't have time, just proceed – the 1st rising time may just be a little longer.
• After resting, knead for 3-4 more minutes. Dough will still be a bit sticky.

First Rise of Dough:

• Grease the inside of a bowl with a little oil (about a tablespoon). Place your ball of dough into the oil, then turn it so the oiled side is upwards (this helps the dough from drying out.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, waxed paper or a clean kitchen towel and place in a warm spot (80 degrees or so) to rise. (Sometimes at this point I'll snap a quick picture of the dough on my phone to help determine later when it has risen and doubled in size)
• Once it's doubled in size (check your photo if you took one) and you can push a finger into the dough, pull out the finger and if the indentation remains, it's risen enough. Can take an hour or more depending upon how warm your room is and other factors too. Rich yeast doughs with butter and eggs tend to take longer to rise.

Forming the Monkey Bread

• This part is fun! You can set up an assembly line and get some helpers involved.
• You'll need an area to work with the dough. A floured surface, a sheet of parchment or a silicone baking mat work well. You'll want your melted butter in a bowl you can dunk dough balls into. (I use a cereal type bowl) In another same size bowl mix up you sugar, cinnamon and orange zest. I use 2 forks to help with the dunking and rolling.
• Spray your Bundt pan with baking spray. (the kind with flour included)
• Divide the dough into 4 portions.
• Take one of the 4 portions and use your hands to roll it into a snake shape – about 12-14 inches long. Cut the snake into 4 equal pieces. Cut each of the 4 pieces into 3 more pieces, you should have 12 pieces.
• Roll each piece into a ball shape, dunk in melted butter and roll in cinnamon sugar, then place in prepared Bundt pan. I find I can put several balls in each bowl at once and stir them around. Repeat the process with the other 3 sections of dough. So you'll end up with about 48 total butter and cinnamon sugar coated pieces of dough in your pan. YUM!

Second Rise of Dough:

• Cover your pan with plastic wrap and let rise for about 30 minutes. It's okay if it doesn't double. You'll see some expansion happening where the cinnamon sugar coating forms cracks on the dough balls.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oven rack should be in lower-middle position.

Syrup:

• In a small saucepan combine brown sugar, butter and orange juice. Bring to simmer, stir and simmer for a minute. Once all the brown sugar has dissolved – take off heat.

Bake: 350 Degrees F.

• When ready to bake, remove plastic wrap and drizzle syrup evenly over the monkey bread dough balls. Cover pan with foil. The foil is going to trap steam and help the dough balls get really puffed and fluffy. Bake for 20 minutes covered. Then carefully remove the foil – hot steam will come out. Then continue baking for another 20 minutes or until the top gets all golden brown. (Bake time total about 40 minutes)
• Remove the pan to a cooling rack and let rest 5 minutes.
• Place a heat safe platter on top the Bundt pan and invert to release the hot monkey bread from the pan.

Orange Glaze:

• In a small bowl stir together (also works well in a mini chopper) powered sugar and 2 tablespoons of the orange juice. Add more juice as needed to reach desired texture. After monkey bread has cooled part way. Drizzle with the orange glaze.

Notes

Helpful Post on How to Rise Dough & How to Test When It’s Risen Enough

 

Nutrition (approx. data estimated via online nutritional calculator.)

Calories: 458kcal (23%) | Carbohydrates: 70g (23%) | Protein: 7g (14%) | Fat: 17g (26%) | Saturated Fat: 10g (63%) | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 74mg (25%) | Sodium: 243mg (11%) | Potassium: 133mg (4%) | Fiber: 2g (8%) | Sugar: 34g (38%) | Vitamin A: 566IU (11%) | Vitamin C: 4mg (5%) | Calcium: 60mg (6%) | Iron: 2mg (11%)

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