You knew I would do it, right? I have been trying and trying to come up with a way to serve sprinkles for breakfast and this is it. Monkey bread covered in a glorious glaze and rainbow jimmies. Try my highly rated Homemade Monkey Bread or 5-Ingredient Monkey Bread
Sprinkles Monkey Bread
The best part about this bread? You can actually make it ahead of time! I love that time-saving tip and love that I can spend most of my morning enjoying its decadent deliciousness. Just remember, when making bread from scratch there will be a proofing period in addition to the baking and this can add considerable time to the process.
If you read through the recipe one thing you may have noticed is that I used cinnamon extract (commonly found in most grocery stores) in place of cinnamon. This was purely for aesthetic purposes as I wanted to create a beautifully light and colorful monkey bread. If you are not opposed to a brown sprinkles bread, feel free to omit the extract in place of 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon.
Monkey Bread From Scratch
- To make the dough pour the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast into the bowl of stand mixer with dough attachment. Make sure your bowl is very clean. Turn on lowest speed for 30 seconds to evenly distribute.
- Slowly drizzle in warm water, milk, melted butter, and eggs to the flour/yeast mixture all at once. Temperature is important when working with yeast, so use a candy thermometer to make sure it’s warm enough but not too hot. Then turn on your mixer and beat the ingredients.
- Add in sprinkles and mix for 30 more seconds, or until mostly distributed. Don’t worry, they won’t break and get yucky looking! I have tried to do this by hand and just found that using the mixer is easier.
- Remove dough from mixer, shape it into a ball with your hands and place it in a greased bowl that is at least twice as large as the ball of dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Let it rise until doubled in size. (You can also place in the refrigerator overnight.)
- When you are ready to prepare the monkey bread, punch the dough down by pushing your fist into the center and then start pulling the edges into the center. (Have fun with this!)
- Pull apart dough into small pieces about an inch across. Roll in your hands to create smooth, uniform dough balls.
- Place one layer of dough balls into Bundt pan, then pour one-third of the melted butter mixture over.
- Repeat this process until you have used all the dough and butter mixture.
Sprinkles or Jimmies?
I called this recipe Sprinkles Monkey Bread, but it should really read “Jimmies Monkey Bread”. I love the longer rice-shaped look of jimmies and love that they do not bleed as much as traditional sprinkles. You can, of course, use rainbow sprinkles if that is what you have on hand!
We love this bread for Christmas Morning (try red & green sprinkles) as well as for special birthdays. But truly, it can be enjoyed any time of year!
Tips for Making Monkey Bread
- If the top pieces of bread start getting too dark while in the oven, loosely cover with a piece of tin foil.
- Only let the monkey bread rest for the maximum of 5 minutes in the bundt pan after baking it. If it goes longer, the brown sugar sticks to the bottom of the bundt pan.
- Use a serving platter/cake plate with a raised outer edge to prevent the brown sugar syrup from pouring all over.
- The monkey bread is even better the second day. The bread becomes soft all over and the flavors really soak into the bread.
How to Make EASY Sprinkles Monkey Bread
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Prepare the desired pan. (I use baking spray in a bundt pan).
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Pour 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles into pan. Add twenty frozen Rhodes rolls around the pan.
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Evenly spread dry butterscotch pudding mix over rolls.
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In a medium bowl combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 cup (113g) melted butter. Pour over rolls. Sprinkle rolls with 3/4 cup rainbow sprinkles. (Make sure some get into the nooks and crannies!)
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Leave on counter, uncovered, overnight. If you want to cover spray a piece of plastic wrap with non-stick spray and loosely place over the pan.
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When ready to serve, place in oven and bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes.
Sprinkles Monkey Bread
Ingredients
Dough
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water, 105°F to 120°F
- 1 1/4 cup warm whole milk, 105°F to 120°F
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs beaten and at room temperature
- 1 cup rainbow jimmies, plus extra for garnish
Coating
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp. cinnamon extract
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Glaze
- 3 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 tbsp. milk, plus extra if needed
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- To make the dough, pour the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast into the bowl of stand mixer with dough attachment.
- Turn on lowest speed for 30 seconds to evenly distribute.
- Slowly drizzle in warm water, milk, melted butter, and eggs to the flour/yeast mixture all at once.
- Beat on low to medium speed until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. (about 3 minutes)
- Add in sprinkles and mix for 30 more seconds, or until mostly distributed.
- Remove dough from mixer, shape it into a ball with your hands and place it in a greased bowl that is at least twice as large as the ball of dough. Turn the dough over once to grease the entire surface.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Let it rise until doubled in size. (You can also place in the refrigerator overnight.)
Coating
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Melt butter in a medium bowl. Add in granulated sugar and extracts. Set aside.
- Generously spray the bottom and sides of a Bundt pan.
- Punch the dough down by pushing your fist into the center and then start pulling the edges into the center. (Have fun with this!)
- Pull apart dough into small pieces about an inch across. Roll in your hands to create smooth, uniform dough balls.
- Place one layer of dough balls into Bundt pan, then pour one-third of the melted butter mixture over.
- Repeat this process until you have used all the dough and butter mixture.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown on top. Cover with foil if the top browns too quickly. (You want to make sure the sugar granules melt completely)
- While monkey bread is cooking, prepare glaze.
Glaze
- Beat cream cheese with powdered sugar until smooth and light. Add milk and vanilla, and mix until fully incorporated. If the glaze seems too thick, add more milk. If the glaze seems too runny, add in a bit more powdered sugar. You are looking for a gravy-like consistency where the glaze will fall over the sides of the monkey bread but not spill off completely.
- Remove monkey bread from oven.
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then invert onto serving plate. (Make sure the plate is bigger than the pan and that the pan is cool enough to handle.)
- Whisk glaze briefly, then pour over monkey bread. Garnish with more sprinkles.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
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You mentioned the pull apart monkey bread with sprinkles could be made ahead… how long do you think it will keep? I plan to make mine into individual monkey bread cupcakes for my daughter’s first birthday. Would they be okay done a couple days ahead and left on the counter?
What about the milk?
(Or did I miss something?)
Please don’t shoot the messenger but……………
can I use frozen bread dough?
I specifically talk about how to make them with frozen rolls above. 🙂
Wow amazing I will try this wonderful Monkey Bread I hope it will be like yours Amanda 🥰
I’m curious as to why the easy recipe calls for dry butterscotch pudding on top of the rolls … it’s not my favorite flavor and wondered if it was required or if there was another dry pudding that could be used instead? These look DELICIOUS!
Wondering whether this would work with gluten-free flour mix?
I just mixed up the dough but don’t have much hope. I think my milk was too hot because it melted a lot of the sprinkles when I mixed them in and my dough is now brown. Something just does not seem right but I will see after it rises. I think I will use the frozen dough balls when I make it again.
Would it work to use Rhodes rolls, but your coating and cream cheese icing instead of the butterscotch mixture? If so, how would you adapt the recipe? Thanks!
Yes – that would definitely work. It will be similar to this process: https://iambaker.net/monkey-bread/