Cranberry Walnut Cream Cheese Monkey Bread.
Monkey Bread is one of those perfect desserts for holiday gatherings. It’s pretty simple to make, it really doesn’t require many ingredients, and serving it is as simple as laying it out on a plate and allowing each person to literally grab a piece.
It’s also fantastic because it works as a decadent breakfast pastry just as well as it works as a dessert.
This particular Monkey Bread features something extra: A gooey cream cheese center that will send your tastebuds soaring into the clouds.
Each piece is coated in crunchy, sweet, cinnamon sugar praline crumbles sprinkled with dried cranberries and walnut pieces.
My mom had this handwritten recipe stashed inside of her “recipe book” (which is pretty much a book that was designed to write down and keep recipes organized, but instead it is just stuffed full with handwritten recipes jotted down on various sizes of paper and shoved into whatever spot is left). I made a few alterations to it, including adding the cranberries and adjusting the ratios. It was also clear that my mom had used the ingredient list as a grocery list as well, as her final ingredient was cat litter. At least I hope that was an accident. You will find it has been excluded from mine… but I suppose if you’re looking for that extra extra crunch…
Expert tip: Make this for breakfast, and you can still save room for Pumpkin Chiffon Pie for dessert!
Cranberry Walnut Cream Cheese Monkey Bread
Ingredients:
Serves 20
- 2 – 12oz. Cans Refrigerated Biscuit Dough (original, 10 count)*
- 1 Block Cream Cheese
- 1/2 Cup (1 stick) Unsalted Butter
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar, firmly packed
- 1/4 Cup White Sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 1 Cup Walnut Pieces
- 1/2 Cup Dried Cranberries
Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350°
Spray bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray
Combine white sugar and cinnamon, set aside
Cut Cream Cheese into 20 equal cubes
For each biscuit, press biscuit dough out , sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mix, and place a cube of cream cheese on top. Wrap the biscuit around cream cheese and seal into a ball. Set all 20 dough balls aside.
In a saucepan over low heat, mix together butter and brown sugar until just melted and combined. DO NOT OVERCOOK.
Sprinkle 1/2 of your walnuts and cranberries into your bundt pan, then place 10 dough balls evenly in the pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 remaining cinnamon sugar, then pour 1/2 of the melted butter/brown sugar mixture evenly over the balls. Sprinkle with the remaining nuts and cranberries, then layer the next 10 dough balls on top, sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar, and pour the remaining butter mixture on top.
Set the bundt pan on top of the warm oven or leave out on the counter at room temperature for 5 minutes before baking.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting the pan onto a plate. These are delicious at any temperature, but are mind blowingly amazing when served warm out of the oven. Serve and enjoy!
*If you are unable to find the 12 oz. cans of biscuit dough, it is acceptable to use the 10.5 oz. cans of 5-count “JUMBO” biscuits and cut each in half to equal 10 biscuits.
- 2 - 12oz. Cans Refrigerated Biscuit Dough (original, 10 count)*
- 1 Block Cream Cheese
- ½ Cup (1 stick) Unsalted Butter
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar, firmly packed
- ¼ Cup White Sugar
- 1½ tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 1 Cup Walnut Pieces
- ½ Cup Dried Cranberries
- Preheat Oven to 350°
- Spray bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray
- Combine white sugar and cinnamon, set aside
- Cut Cream Cheese into 20 equal cubes
- For each biscuit, press biscuit dough out , sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mix, and place a cube of cream cheese on top. Wrap the biscuit around cream cheese and seal into a ball. Set all 20 dough balls aside.
- In a saucepan over low heat, mix together butter and brown sugar until just melted and combined. DO NOT OVERCOOK.
- Sprinkle ½ of your walnuts and cranberries into your bundt pan, then place 10 dough balls evenly in the pan. Sprinkle with ½ remaining cinnamon sugar, then pour ½ of the melted butter/brown sugar mixture evenly over the balls. Sprinkle with the remaining nuts and cranberries, then layer the next 10 dough balls on top, sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar, and pour the remaining butter mixture on top.
- Set the bundt pan on top of the warm oven or leave out on the counter at room temperature for 5 minutes before baking.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before inverting the pan onto a plate. These are delicious at any temperature, but are mind blowingly amazing when served warm out of the oven. Serve and enjoy!
