Monkey Bread Cupcakes #ChristmasWeek

Welcome to Christmas Week, a multi-blogger event co-hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Jen of Juanita’s Cocina. Each day we will be celebrating a new holiday baking theme where each blogger makes a dish they love. We hope you enjoy this fabulous event. Tune in each day starting Monday December 3rd and ending Friday December 6th.

If you’ve been following me for a while now, you know that I don’t like yeast. I think I’ve made one thing on this blog that actually involves yeast, but as I’m trying to evolve and cross things off my bucket list, I sucked up my fear and set out to make these monkey bread cupcakes.

I will be completely honest with you - this took a lot of time and work. But in the end, I promise you, it was all worth it.

Yes, there are 2 rises with this recipe. And yes, you have to make 72 dough balls and roll them up individually in butter and cinnamon sugar. It seems overwhelming but if you have some help in the kitchen (this would be so perfect to make with your little ones), you’ll have a blast making these. And if you don’t have fun making them, you sure will when you bite into these heavenly cupcakes.

It’s so good that you won’t be able to stop at just 1. or 5 actually.

So here’s how you make this:

Go ahead and combine the yeast and 1/4 cup water and let it sit until it gets all foamy, about 5-10 minutes.

Next we’ll stir in some sour cream, butter, sugar, egg and vanilla.

Here we’ll add just 2 cups flour, salt and baking soda. We’ll let that mix on low speed for a bit until it gets combined.

Then we’ll add in the rest of the flour, little by little, until the dough comes together, kneading on high speed until a ball forms.

Cover with plastic wrap and let it double in volume for about an hour. This is the perfect time to get some laundry done.

Once that hour is up, go ahead and punch down the dough to deflate it before dividing up the dough into 6 equal pieces.

Take each of the 6 equal pieces and form 12 balls.

Next, we’ll make our cinnamon sugar mixture and dip the balls into butter before slathering this stuff on.

Once all the dough balls are coated, add 6 balls into each muffin cup, adding the last one in the center. Let it rise until doubled again, which should take about 40 minutes. Once that’s done, go ahead and bake these lovelies for 20-22 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.

Then comes the glaze where we’ll combine the confectioners’ sugar, butter, milk and vanilla. Let the cupcakes cool for 10 minutes before drizzling on this goodness to each one.

Today’s theme for Christmas Week is “Christmas Cakes and Cupcakes”. Be sure to visit all the participating bloggers today to see what special dish they whipped up for you!

• Christmas Coconut Cake by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic
• Cranberry Coffee Cake by Jen of Juanita’s Cocina
• Holly Topped White Cupcakes by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Eggnog Pound Cake with Rum Glaze by Anuradha of Baker Street
• Christmas in the Tropics Cake by Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
• Cranberry-Walnut Coffecake by Isabelle of Crumb
• Pumpkin Dream Cake by Erin of Dinners, Dishes and Desserts
• Christmas Red Velvet Mug Cake by Erin of The Spiffy Cookie
• Reindeer Cupcakes by Ramona of Curry and Comfort
• Whiskey Nut Fruitcake by Heather of Girlichef
• Tres Leches Cake by Cathy of The Dutch Baker’s Daughter

Also, don’t forget to enter my giveaway! The 5 winners of the case of Yoplait Greek 100 will be picked on Thursday, December 6th, and announced Friday.

One year ago: Sesame-Crusted Salmon

Monkey Bread Cupcakes (adapted from Sprinkled with Flour):

Yields 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

For the cinnamon-sugar coating:

• 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the vanilla glaze:

• 1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, stir yeast and 1/4 cup warm water. Let sit until the yeast comes alive and starts to foam, about 5-10 minutes. Stir in sour cream, butter, sugar, egg and vanilla.

Add 2 cups flour, salt and baking soda. Mix on low speed until all the flour has been incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Add remaining flour, a little at a time, until the dough starts to come together. Knead on high speed until the dough gathers into a ball, about 2 minutes.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Coat a 12-cup standard muffin tin with nonstick spray; set aside.

To make the cinnamon-sugar coating, combine brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; set aside.

Gently punch the dough down to deflate it. Form the dough into a long cylinder, dividing it into 6 equal portions. Using a dough scraper, divide each of the 6 portions into 12 equal pieces, rolling each piece into a ball.

Dip each ball into the melted butter and then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Drop 5 coated dough balls into each muffin cup. Using your fingertips, gently press the 6th dough ball in the center.

Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm area until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place dough balls into oven and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

To make the glaze, combine confectioners’ sugar, butter, milk and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. If the glaze is too thin, add more confectioners’ sugar as needed.

When the cupcakes are done, cool for 10 minutes and drizzle the glaze on each cupcake.

Allow glaze to set before serving.

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