Our theory: Mini desserts are a billion times cuter and more fun. So why bake a whole cake when you could whip up an adorable batch of mini citrus monkey bread? It’s definitely OK to devour two (er, five) in rapid succession.
And while you could totally make a batch of homemade pizza dough for these cuties, we know that yeast and flour are, um, a little absent these days. That’s why the recipe calls for store-bought pizza dough, which eliminates the need for a wild goose chase and will also save you a ton of time for more important things…like eating monkey bread.
Slow-Cooker Monkey Bread
Monkey Bread
2 pounds (908g) pizza dough (store-bought or homemade)
1 cup (198g) granulated sugar
1 cup (213g) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, melted
Citrus Glaze
1⅓ cups (151g) confectioners’ sugar
Zest and juice of 1 orange
1 tablespoon heavy cream, plus more as needed
Citrus zest (lemon and/or orange), for finishing
1. Make the Monkey Bread: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease 12 mini Bundt pans (or a large-cavity muffin pan) with nonstick spray.
2. Divide the pizza dough into 12 even pieces, then divide each piece into 4 pieces, for a total of 48 pieces.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, orange zest and lemon zest.
4. Working with a few pieces at a time, dip the dough into the melted butter and then dredge in the sugar mixture. Place 4 pieces of dough into each mini Bundt pan or muffin cup.
5. Cover the dough with lightly greased plastic wrap and let it rise until it has almost doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
6. Bake until the mini breads are very golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
7. Make the Glaze: Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, orange zest and orange juice. Whisk in the heavy cream, adding more as needed until the mixture is a spoonable consistency.
8. Let the monkey breads cool for 10 minutes inside the pans, then invert onto a cooling rack. Cool for 15 minutes more, then drizzle with the citrus glaze and garnish with citrus zest.