Рецепт Monkey Brains, Yes, Very Good!
It is 1935, Indiana Jones,
his orphaned sidekick, Short Round, and nightclub singer, Willie Scott, have
just escaped Shanghai via cargo plane.
Being forced to “jump ship” over northern India, the trio make their way
to a palace. They are treated most
respectfully and asked to dine with the young Maharajah, wealthy merchants and
government officials. Anyone who has
seen this movie knows that the dishes served to the diners are definitely not
the usual fare the trio is used to.
Dessert is next, and dessert is always something decadent and sinfully
delicious, right?
A lovely white chalice is
placed in front of each diner, containing a monkey's head, skull cap lifted off
and....
Merchant: "Ah, dessert! Chilled monkey brains!"
Now for the disclaimer, at
no time were any cute monkeys harmed, dismembered or eaten in any way shape or
form to obtain the recipe in this article.
Depending on the era you
learned to bake in, and location, a common name for the featured recipe could
have been: bubble bread, bubble loaf, jumble bread, pull-apart bread, pinch-me
cake, pluck-it cake, monkey puzzle bread, monkey brains, and monkey bread. Basically, it is pieces of yeast bread dough,
rolled into balls, dipped in melted butter, and covered with sugar, brown
sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, apple bits, nuts or whatever little treat was the
baker’s delight. It is all layered in a
pan, preferably a Bundt pan, but an angel food pan (outside well covered in
aluminum foil) will do also. After
baking, a slight rest, the “bread” is flipped out onto a platter, and the
liquid created by baking cools to a sticky oh-so-delicious glob. A glob?
Sorry, best way to describe it…ok, maybe glob with perforations?
Anyway, it is eaten by
picking and pulling pieces of the baked dough, eating as is, or dipping into icing,
or cream cheese mixed with vanilla and confectioner’s sugar. So, when referred to with the name “monkey”
attached is comparing to monkeys when they are picking bugs out of the hair of
another monkey. Not an appetizing sight,
unless you are a primate of sorts.
Origin of this baking
technique has been traced back, in America, to the 1880s, when cooking was done
in a Dutch oven, a covered pot with feet, set over a fire with hot coals
underneath and on top. During World War
2, General Mills promoted “Hungarian Coffee Cake”, a Hungarian treat, arany
galuska (“golden dumplings”), consisting of balls of yeast dough dipped in
melted butter, then in sugar and mixed with cinnamon and/or chopped nuts. Nancy
and Ronald Reagan loved monkey bread, from their local bakery, and served it every
Christmas holiday. Once Ronald became
President, it became a tradition to serve it at the White House. It became so popular among the American
people, the Reagan recipe (obtained from their favorite bakery) was included in
The White House Family Cookbook by
Henry Haller (New York, 1987, p 332-333).
I call my recipe “Apple
Pie Monkey Bread”, as it begins with the typical coating of butter, brown sugar
and cinnamon, but I add diced Granny Smith apple over each layer. There is always a bit of ingredients left
over, so I make sure to coat the remaining apple bits to top it all off. Eating it, just close the eyes, savor the
scent and flavor, and you will swear it is like eating an apple pie.
Sometimes though, the
dough pieces in the center do not bake out as firmly as the rest. Is this a loss? Oh heck no it is not! Take an 8-inch skillet, medium-high heat, and
spread out the gooey pieces to the inside bottom edge of the pan. Let it sizzle for two minutes, flip over, and
two minutes on the other side. The
excess butter/caramel moisture firms it all up, creating a crispy on the
outside, tender on the inside dessert.
Top with whipped cream or ice cream, and dive right in!
Ah, the bread dough; yes,
you can use fresh dough, but thawed frozen will work very well too. Many recipes use canned bread or biscuit
dough, but these completed monkey breads tend to dry out faster than using
fresh or thawed bread dough.
Unfortunately for me,
someone had borrowed my Bundt pan and never returned it. No big deal I thought, as I had stopped
making Bundt cakes long ago. Then
suddenly I got the bug to make monkey bread, and no Bundt pan! I called around to several shops, and the
closest I could come to was an angel food pan with a center piece that loves to
pop out if not careful. I wrapped up the
outside with layers of aluminum foil, as I knew the caramel sauce created would
leak all over the place. I also placed
aluminum foil at the bottom of my oven, just in case, and good thing I did too!
Anyway, I have purchased a
new Bundt pan, and I will leave the other pan to the angels. This was a cooking adventure of “Can I really
make this?” to “How in the world can I make this!?!” with the fun far
outweighing the frustration.
Now the recipe…
Apple Pie Monkey Bread
Ingredients:
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks)
unsalted butter, melted (if begins to harden, microwave)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
(light or dark)
3 tsps. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
2 pounds frozen white
bread dough, thawed, but cold
all-purpose flour to dust
hands and board
2 cups diced Granny Smith
apple
Preparation:
Brush sides and tube of a
12-cup Bundt pan with a very thin layer of the melted butter; or use nonstick
butter flavored spray, but real butter is better. The butter should be in a wide, about 1-inch
deep bowl.
In another wide, about
1-inch deep bowl, whisk together the sugars, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
On a flour dusted board, cut
the bread dough into 6 pieces, and work out, into 10-inch strands, with flour
dusted hands; cut each strand into 10 pieces to get 60 total. Roll each piece into a ball, lightly roll in
the melted butter, and then the sugar mixture.
Space out 20 around bottom
of pan, wall edges to center stem; sprinkle 3/4 cup of diced apple over the
pieces. Repeat until you have 3 layer of
dough balls, however, with last ½ cup of diced apple, mix into remaining melted
butter, then into remaining sugar mixture.
Sprinkle over last layer of dough balls.
Note: if melted butter or
sugar mixture begins to get too low, simply make a little more. Depending on amount of dough balls remaining,
it could be ¼ to ½ of the initial ingredients.
Now, cover the pan with
plastic wrap, place in a warm area, and let rise for 1 and ½ hrs. 20 minutes before rise time is finished,
preheat oven to 350F, and set rack in center of oven. Remove plastic wrap, place pan in oven and
bake 30-50 minutes (dependent on altitude), or until toothpick inserted in
center comes out clean.
Remove pan and place on
cooling rack for 5 minutes. Make sure to
have a serving platter, much larger than the diameter of the pan ready. Be careful, the caramel sauce will be hot and
can cause a severe burn! Carefully flip
the pan over onto the platter, and the monkey bread should slide right
out. Or, before flipping, run the flat
side of a knife around the wall edges, and center tube wall. Let the monkey bread cool for 20 minutes, so
the caramel can completely harden.
Sampling is a necessary evil.Makes 12 servings.
To create a cream cheese
dipping sauce, mix together 8 oz. softened cream cheese, 1/3 cup milk and 2
tsps. pure vanilla extract until fluffy.
Add 2 cups of confectioner’s (powdered) sugar and mix again until
smooth. Or simply use softened icing as
a dip.
The monkey bread can be
stored in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic wrap, or in an airtight
container for up to 5 days. Warm up in
the microwave for 15-20 seconds, or fry it up in a skillet as I have mentioned
previously (but if cold, melt a teaspoon of butter in the skillet first).Mary Cokenour