Monkey bread

I love brown sugar. Love, love love it. Plus, if you are in the Northeast or Midwest, you might have noticed the snow. It is S N O W I N G! Hard. Ever since I made this recipe for rolls (cardamom apricot) I've been thinking about using the dough for cinnamon rolls, or monkey bread, which as far as I can tell is pretty much cinnamon rolls without the roll part. Because I only had a little bit of rice flour and tapioca starch, I halved the recipe, but it still made a huge amount. This is perfect for a snow day, when you sleep late and want to eat something warm and sticky. Or really, it's perfect for any other day. 

Monkey Bread

Using this recipe, originally from Sea's recipe, with monkey bread influence/instruction from Bake and Shake

2/3 c milk, warmed to about 115 degrees

2 T sugar plus 1 t

1 packet yeast (2 1/4 t if you don't use individual packets)

2 eggs

2 T oil

1 t cider vinegar

1 1/2 t vanilla

1/2 t salt

1 1/2 t xanthan gum

2 T potato starch

1/2 c rice flour

1/2 c sorghum flour

1/2 c tapioca starch

2 T teff flour

2 T almond meal

1 heaping t cinnamon

topping:

1 stick of butter, melted

1 c brown sugar

1/2 c white sugar

2 t cinnamon

1 c pecans

Combine the milk with 1 t sugar and yeast. Set aside to proof. Beat the eggs for a minute, add the oil, vinegar, the rest of the sugar, and vanilla and beat a minute or two until completely combined. Add everything else, dump in yeasty milk, and beat on medium-high for about 5 minutes. Combine the brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. Grease lightly your pan - I used a 4 c ovenproof glass measuring bowl, but you can use whatever you'd like, you just might have to adjust the baking time. 

Working one at a time, form dough using two spoons (this will take a while, but it's worth it! I promise!) into small balls, about an inch in diameter, then drop into the melted butter. Scoop out of the butter using your spoons, and drop into the bowl of cinnamon-sugar. Roll each bowl around in the cinnamon sugar, then place in pan. Repeat until all dough is used up. Sprinkle each layer with some pecans. If you have leftover butter and sugar, drizzle/sprinkle over the top once you've used all the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise, about 45 minutes, then preheat oven to 350. Bake 20-30 minutes, based on what size pan you have. Tops will be browned, if you're not sure if yours are done, carefully cut a hole in a piece and see if the center looks done. As soon as you take the finished bread out of the oven, turn it out onto deep plate and scrape any delicious goo left in the pan on top. If you skip this and eat it out of the pan, you might lose some of the caramel!