Apple Fritter Monkey Bread + Video
Apple Fritter Monkey Bread is an easy and delicious pull apart bread with chunks of caramelized apples, sticky cinnamon-sugar, and a light glaze. Fashioned after your favorite donut, this apple fritter bread makes a tasty breakfast or dessert.
*This post is brought to you by Rhodes Bake-N-Serv. Thanks for supporting the brands that make Dessert Now Dinner Later possible.
I love Apple Fritters, but I don’t always feel like deep frying donuts even if my recipe isn’t that hard to make, since it starts with store-bought dough. I’m talking REAL yeast dough, not refrigerated biscuits from a can.
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This Apple Fritter Monkey Bread uses the same store-bought yeast dough, and has all the flavors of the donut, but with the ease of baking instead of frying. Plus, who can resist a delicious sticky pull-apart bread?
Apple Fritter Monkey Bread
All you need to make this apple fritter monkey bread is thawed Rhodes Yeast Dinner Rolls, apples, cinnamon, sugar (white and brown), and butter. The glaze is made with powdered sugar and either apple juice, milk, or water.
Cut the thawed rolls into fourths with scissors. Dip each piece into the melted butter, shake off any excess. Then coat the dough with the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture.
Grease a bundt pan heavily with cooking spray. Put a layer of caramelized apples in the bottom. Then layer with the coated dough pieces.
Alternate with dough pieces and apple chunks until all dough pieces are coated. Pour any remaining butter over the top. Cover the pan with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise up to 1 hour, or until the dough almost reaches the top of the pan.
Invert the bundt pan onto a large plate. Be careful not to spill any of the hot and sticky butter-sugar mixture. Allow to cool slightly, about 3-5 minutes.
Mix powdered sugar with either apple juice, milk, or water to desired consistency and drizzle over monkey bread while still warm. Enjoy immediately.
Cover and refrigerate leftovers, if you even have any. We definitely ate all of this apple fritter monkey bread the first day. It’s sweet, sticky, and oh so apple-y.
If you want a quicker version of this recipe with the same flavors, you can try this Upside-Down Apple Cinnamon Roll with Rhodes Microwave Cinnamon Rolls.
Apple Fritter Monkey Bread
Ingredients
Apples:
- 3 apples, (Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith) peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp (14 g) butter
- 1-2 Tbsp water, if needed*
Monkey Bread:
- 18 Rhodes Yeast Dinner Rolls, thawed and still cold*
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, (1 stick) melted
- 1 cup (200 g) brown sugar, gently packed
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
Glaze:
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- 1-2 Tbsp apple juice, milk, or water
- ¼ tsp maple or vanilla extract
Instructions
- *THAW Rhodes Yeast Dinner Rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet covered with sprayed plastic wrap for 1-2 hours at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator. Rolls should be thawed, but cold, and barely risen.
- APPLES: Peel, core, and dice apples into 1/4-inch pieces. Toss with sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Melt 1 Tbsp butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add apples, and sauté for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until apples are fork tender and all liquid is gone. (*If apples seem dry and browning too quickly, add 1 Tbsp of water periodically to help them soften and not burn.) Cool slightly.
- MONKEY BREAD: Cut thawed rolls into fourths. Place melted butter in one bowl, and mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon in another bowl.
- Grease a bundt pan heavily with cooking spray. Put a layer of caramelized apples in the bottom. Dip each piece of dough into the melted butter, shake off any excess. Then coat the dough with the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture.
- Alternate layering dough pieces and apple chunks in the bundt pan until all dough pieces are coated. Pour any remaining butter over the top. Cover the pan with sprayed plastic wrap and let rise up to 1 hour, or until the dough almost reaches the top of the pan. (*See note for overnight option.)
- Bake in a preheated 350˚F oven for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown and bread is cooked completely where dough pieces touch together. Cover with foil if it’s browning faster than the dough is baking.
- Remove from oven and immediately invert the bundt pan onto a large plate. Be careful not to spill any of the hot and sticky butter-sugar mixture. Allow bread to cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
- GLAZE: Whisk together the powdered sugar and apple juice, milk, or water in a small bowl. Add maple or vanilla extract. Drizzle over the slightly cooled monkey bread. Enjoy while warm. Store any leftovers in a container with a lid in the refrigerator. Nuke leftovers in the microwave for 10-15 seconds before eating.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make this?
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Would it be ok to bake this in smaller pans and freeze for a “thaw and reheat” sort of treat? I fully bake cinnamon rolls 2 per small disposable pan and freeze for my stepfather who is ill and homebound and he loves it. I was hoping to shake things up and try some monkey bread but wasn’t sure if the caramel-y aspect of these would freeze ok?
Yes, it will still freeze ok. Wrap it in plastic wrap, then foil before freezing. Thanks for asking!
20 minutes prep time is so false. This took me the better part of the day. I have yet to see results. Perhaps if you have 6 kitchen assistants? I started at 4 p.m. and it’s now 7:15 p.m. still waiting for it to rise, and THEN will put it in the oven.
Hopefully it was worth the wait. I do have the total time (prep + cook + rise time) as 1 hour 50 minutes, but I will update and lengthen the prep time and the rise time to include the thawing of the rolls, not just the rising after the bread is assembled.
I would love to make this but I don’t think we have those type of buns here in Canada. If I make a different type of bun dough, would it still work?
You could make your own roll dough. I have this recipe, but you’d probably only need 3/4 of the dough.
https://www.dessertnowdinnerlater.com/dinner-rolls-recipe/
What pan could I use other than a bunt pan? Could I use a 9×13 or maybe a couple loaf pans?
Either of those options will work. The bake time will vary with the different pans. Start checking it around 25-30 minutes.
What is the calorie and carb count in this recipe?
I just added the nutrition to the recipe card. It’s computed with an app, so it may not be 100% accurate, but 180 calories and 38g carbs if divided into 10 servings.
What is the size of the bundt pan you used? Seems so delicious, and I don’t want anything to go wrong 🙂
I use a standard bundt pan, approximately 9 & 1/2-inches or 10 cup capacity.
OMG this is so AMAZING!! It’s a little bit of work, but holy moly so delicious! Even BETTER than the Apple Fritters you can get at the store. Only complaint is that I couldn’t stop eating it!! (Luckily I gave half away, b/c it would have been inhaled by myself or my kiddos in no time) #SorryNotSorry
We had the same problem (couldn’t stop eating it)!