Okapi (Copy) Bread

On Christmas Morning, my sister-in-law (who is a trained chef and amaze-balls cook) posted a picture on Facebook of the Monkey Bread she made that morning... ever since then? I've been obsessed. I love the idea of Monkey Bread, and loved the idea that she used Grands Biscuits instead of making her own dough. (Although, I do make my own dough, and would totally use this recipe as an excellent alternative if I were making this the night before).

In the course of moving three times in the past four years, I inadvertently misplaced my bundt pan- which is a necessary ingredient to making Monkey Bread... so I've been creating my own version. One that doesn't require a bundt pan, but that tastes just as yummy, can be made the morning of, with minimal prep. It's an excellent copy (okapi bread... get it? My six year-olds helped me with that one).

Ingredients:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 TBS cinnamon
3 cartons of biscuits (I use the ones from Trader Joe's)
3/4 cup of melted, salted butter


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Generously butter a large baking dish, I used the one below, it's a 9x12.

In a gallon ziploc bag, combine the sugars and cinnamon. 

 Open all those biscuits up, and let them breathe for a minute or two.

Using kitchen shears, cut each biscuit into six equal pie sized pieces.  The shears help to keep each piece separate, and make them easier to handle. (it also minimizes your work... if you were to pull the biscuits apart, you would need to roll each piece in order to create a piece that will draw in the sugars, and play nicely with the others).

Dump a handful of the pieces into the sugar mixture and shake until completely covered, then place in the baking dish.

Layer haphazardly, until the entire pan is full.  It should be about 3-4 pieces deep all over.

Lest your worried about the copious amounts of sugar that go into this dish? You will be left with the amount below.  You just need enough to make the coating process easy for you, and to ensure that there is enough of the mixture to coat each and every piece completely.  If you don't want to waste it, it goes wonderfully well sprinkled on toast with butter (or earth's best, if you prefer).

Pour the melted butter over the entire pan, making sure to get a bit on all the exposed pieces of biscuit. Bake in the oven for 1 hour.

The typical monkey bread is dumped out onto a platter, allowing the butter to drip over all the place.  I prefer to just cut into it as is, making the mess a little more minimal....however, if you were bringing this to a brunch, or serving for friends, that is exactly what you would do.

If you are choosing to prepare your own dough, I would prepare it the night before, rolling it into equal sized balls, and coating with the sugar mixture before the second rise, the placing it in the buttered dish, and allowing it to rise in the refrigerator over night.