Day 8: Monkey Bread

I am in a good mom vs bad mom battle with myself tonight. Good mom: this is by far Austin's most favorite thing that I make. He asks for it ALL the time. I bought Butter Braids from his school fundraiser and when I made one for him, he asked me where the monkey bread was. Butter braids are delicious, and yet it still didn't compare to my monkey bread. He's too sweet!! So, I am arguing that making this for him is being a really good mom. However, Bad mom: Why wouldn't he love this? It's sugar, butter, biscuits and more sugar, covered in sugar. No joke, probably the worst possible thing a mother could feed her children. It is easily a dentist's and dietitian's worst nightmare.

So, you can see my dilemma...good mom or bad mom? Final answer: good mom. Everything in moderation, right? We had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner and Monkey Bread for dessert!

Monkey Bread
3 12oz packages of Buttermilk Biscuits
1 cup sugar
3 teas cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter*

Directions:
1) Cut biscuits in quarters
2) Mix white sugar and 2 teas cinnamon
3) Coat biscuit pieces in sugar mixture and layer in a fluted bundt pan
4) Melt butter, brown sugar, and 1 teas cinnamon over the stove top and pour over biscuits
5) Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes
6) Let cool for 10 minutes and then turn upside down onto a plate

Kitchen Play by Play: The kids LOVED coating the biscuits in the sugar and were actually really good about not licking their fingers in the process :) They did a great job layering the pieces into the pan too then I took over the rest and all hell broke loose. It was a monkey bread malfunction. I have literally made this recipe 25 times off of the same recipe card and yet, only today did I realize that I Mary Tyler Moored MYSELF. WTF? How is that even possible!!!!!! *Though the recipe is 1 stick of butter, on my recipe card I have 1 CUP of butter written down. I think normally I don't even look at the recipe I just know it's only one stick, but this time the kids were distracting me, and I was just following the card. I knew immediately that something was not right. It was too soupy, so I just added more brown sugar. I figured worst case scenario it would just be a little extra sweet. I put it in the oven and hoped for the best. Then I realized that I never added the cinnamon to the butter mixture. I opened the oven and sprinkled the cinnamon on top. Shit, at this point what did it matter, this monkey bread was doomed. Thirty five minutes later, I took it out and it looked awesome. We very patiently waited the ten minutes, and then I turned over what should have been a glistening mountain of butter and perfectly browned biscuit, but instead watched in horror as the clumps of raw dough fell onto the plate. It took everything I had not to scream SON of a BITCH. The extra butter kept the entire bottom half of the pan from being cooked. The look on my poor son's face was heartbreaking. New final answer: BAD MOM. I picked off a few of the cooked pieces to give to him and Peyton and then emptied the entire contents into a 9X13 pan and put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes. Woohoo, when I took it out it was fully cooked.
Still in the pan. Looks good!
Just out of the pan right before it fell apart.

The Verdict:
Nicole:Clearly, it was not a 5 on preparation or execution. Due to its extra time in the oven, some pieces were definitely overcooked, but the buttery, sugary taste was still there. A past monkey bread of mine would have gotten a 5. Today's is a 3.

Paul: He was at Snowboard/Ski club, so he didn't get to witness the monkey bread massacre.

Austin: Though he was disappointed that he didn't get a huge portion, he still told me how much he loved it and gave it a 100.

Peyton: Didn't like it at all. Like seriously. She gave her pieces to Austin. This made Austin very happy.