Kitchen Klutz: Going ape over monkey bread!

Photos by Joe Maniscalco

By Michèle De Meglio

It’s “Planet of the Apes” — in my kitchen!

While searching the Internet for quick and easy recipes that my klutzy self could handle, I stumbled across a dessert called monkey bread.

It sounded strange and looked even stranger but it gave me an excuse to dress up like a zookeeper. I was in!

Decked out in my safari outfit, I popped open two packages of frozen dinner rolls, and then ripped the dough into bite-sized pieces.



In a large mixing bowl, I combined sugar and cinnamon, and then rolled the dough in the sweet mixture. Simple enough.

A microwave was the easiest way to melt butter, which was then combined with more sugar and cinnamon. Mmm, this was going to be tasty!

I greased the bundt cake pan I borrowed from a friend and placed half of the rolls inside. I covered that with half of the gooey butter mixture, and then repeated the process with the remaining ingredients.


The dish was baking in the oven (40 minutes at 300 degrees) and everything was going according to plan. But then the most unexpected thing happened. I was attacked by a gorilla!

The sweet smell of monkey bread must have attracted the wild ape to my cozy kitchen. Priscilla the Gorilla lunged at me. I shouted, “Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!”

The enraged beast bared her sharp fangs and zeroed in on my neck. Priscilla may have attacked first and was indeed much stronger than I am -- but I was faster! I wrestled the gorilla to the ground, but since we all know that violence is never the answer, I reasoned with the ape. I said, “Hey, we can share the monkey bread!” Now we’re best buddies.



Verdict: Monkey bread is just a giant cinnamon roll. Sadly, mine was a bit too hard on the outside but still soft and gooey in the middle.

Hey, at least I made a new friend.

Kitchen Klutz follows 20-something Michèle De Meglio as she burns casseroles and her fingers, all in hope of trading frozen dinners for home cooking.

Monkey Bread

Ingredients
2 packages frozen dinner rolls
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. cinnamon
1/4 lb. butter

Directions
Pour half of the sugar and cinnamon into a mixing bowl. Rip dough into bite-sized pieces and roll in the dry mixture. Set aside. Melt butter then stir in remaining cinnamon and sugar. Grease bundt pan then fill with half the dough and cover with half of the butter mixture. Add remaining dough then top with remaining butter mixture. Bake for 40 minutes at 300 degrees.