I thought monkeys like bananas....

I do love using my bundt pan. Twice in one day?! We decided to try this Apple Fritter Monkey Bread recipe – it seemed like something fun to try. The kids love making monkey bread, the dipping in butter and rolling in brown sugar and cinnamon. The twist was layers of cooked down applesauce. I probably should have cooked it down further but sometimes I get inpatient. We put it all together and put it in the fridge. I let it rise in the oven overnight with the light on. I hem and haw with the oven light. Sometimes I turn it on, sometimes not… this time on. It didn’t seem like the monkey bread rose too much – but it also wasn’t spilling out of the pan either. I baked it on a rack on a cookie sheet – just in case of spillage – but there wasn’t any. I was prepared for all the chaos and none of the chaos found me, this time. This Monkey Bread turned out picture perfect… we all ooohhhhed and ahhhhhed… I added the glaze after a few minutes and we all enjoyed. I think less applesauce next time, or more evenly distributed. Nicholas declared this delicious – so we’ll go with his review.

Apple Fritter Monkey Bread
Ingredients
apple filling:
1 quart applesauce
2 T sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 T lemon juice
1 T unsalted butter
dough:
¼ ounce active dry yeast (one packet)
3 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 cup milk (warmed to about 110 degrees F)
1 T sugar
1 egg (slightly beaten)
3 T butter (melted and cooled slightly )
1 teaspoon salt
1 T olive oil
brown sugar coating:
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup unsalted butter (one stick, melted)
glaze:
1 cup confectioners sugar
4 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions
To prepare the apple filling:
Combine applesauce, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and butter in medium sized pot. Cook over medium high heat until it cooks down and most of the moisture has evaporated. Set aside.
To make the dough:
In bowl of large stand mixer, whisk together yeast, ½ cup flour, warm milk and sugar until smooth. Allow to stand 15 minutes until foamy (like the top of a latte). The presence of foam is the indicator that your yeast is good.
Mix beaten egg with the melted butter and salt. Add to the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add 3 cups flour.
Using a dough hook, mix on low speed to combine ingredients and then knead dough, 5-6 minutes. If after a minute or so you have ingredients sticking to the sides or the bottom of the bowl, use a spatula to loosen and continue the mixing and kneading. Dough should be slightly sticky and elastic but not actually stick to a spatula when poked.
Transfer dough to another work surface. Wipe out bowl and drizzle olive oil. Form dough into smooth ball. Place in oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in warm room to rise and double in size, about 1-2 hours.
When ready to assemble monkey bread, punch down dough. Transfer to a floured work surface and cut into 64 pieces (cut in half, then each piece in half, etc until you have 64). roll each piece into a ball.
To make the monkey bread:
Butter or oil spray a 12-cup bundt pan. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon from the coating ingredients in a small bowl. To assemble, take each dough ball, dip it in the melted butter, roll in brown sugar cinnamon mixture, and place in bundt pan. Add half the dough to the pan, top with half of the cooked down applesauce, add remaining dough balls, and finish with remaining cooked down applesauce. If there is any remaining melted butter or brown sugar, throw it in as well!
Cover pan tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature for at least an hour or in refrigerator overnight.
To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F, remove plastic wrap, and bake in preheated oven about 35-40 minutes or until top is deep golden brown.
Remove from oven, allow to cool in pan on wire rack for about 5 minutes, then invert onto plate.
To make the glaze, whisk ingredients together in small bowl. Drizzle over hot monkey bread on plate. Best if served warm and fresh!