Growing up, my dad had one meal that he would fix that I would always ask for. Every Christmas morning started out with his monkey bread. Without fail, I knew I was getting monkey bread for breakfast that morning. I was almost as excited about that as I was about the presents. 32 years later & I still try to work having monkey bread into our family Christmas get-togethers :)
So in honor of my dad, I've made his monkey bread on a whole new level! Bacon added to monkey bread?? Good. Candied Bacon added to monkey bread??? AMAZING!!
CANDIED BACON MONKEY BREAD
YIELD: 12 servings
INGREDIENTS:
- 12 slices Petit Jean Meats Bacon
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon maple extract
- pepper to season
- 2 cans (16 ounces) jumbo butter biscuits
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 sticks (1 cup) butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon maple extract
- candied bacon
COOKING DIRECTIONS:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Put the bacon slices in a medium bowl. Season the bacon with pepper & then toss with the brown sugar and maple flavoring making sure they are nicely coated.
Lay the bacon out on a wire rack placed over a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the slices over and bake for another 10 minutes. Turn the slices over again and bake for another 5-10 or until the bacon is browned & crisp.
For the Monkey Bread
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees again if necessary. Heavily grease a tube or bundt pan. Crumble 4 pieces of your candied bacon & sprinkle in to the bottom of the pan.
Working with one can of biscuits at a time, cut the biscuits into quarters. Add the cinnamon and sugar to a medium bowl with a lid or large Ziploc bag & shake it around until well combined. Add the biscuit quarters to the bowl & cover with the lid. Depending on your bowl size, you might have to work in batches. With the lid tightly closed, shake the bowl until all of the biscuit pieces are well coated. Pour the pieces into the pan on top of the crumbled bacon.
Crumble 4 more pieces of your candied bacon and sprinkle on top of the biscuit pieces in the pan. Repeat the same steps with the second can of biscuits. Crumble the remaining slices of bacon on to the top of the biscuits. Sprinkle any remaining cinnamon sugar mixture over the biscuit pieces (this is totally optional but definitely worth it!)
In a small saucepan over medium low heat, melt the butter and then stir in the brown sugar and maple extract until just barely combined ~ I do not completely melt the butter, just enough to make a nice caramel. Pour the mixture all over the biscuit pieces. Let the liquid settle for a second & then place in the oven. Depending on how full your pan is, you might want to place with a baking sheet below the pan so you don't have any overflows to the bottom of your oven.
Bake the monkey bread for 25-30 minutes or until the top of the biscuits are golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes to cool. Turn the bread out on to a large plate & let cool some more if you can resist the temptation of digging in!
My favorite bacon makers, Petit Jean Meats, wants to help me help you give your dad the gift of bacon this Father's Day! One lucky winner will receive the Petit Jean Meats Bacon Sampler ~ we're talking 4 pounds of bacon here y'all!! You could feed your dad bacon at every meal!! :)
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