Coffee-Caramel Monkey Bread

Coffee-Caramel Monkey Bread
sweet breads chapter
Recipe #4 of the Christmas 2019-2020 Treat Yo' Self Challenge

Until this weekend, I really thought I didn't like caramel. I've had plenty of bad experiences with caramel in the past, from homemade hard caramel candies, to that disgusting caramel sauce that comes in jars in the grocery stores in order to pour over ice cream. Not to mention the salted caramel craze that's currently going on, a combination that is, IMHO, an abomination.

Furthermore, my previous experiences with monkey bread have been marginal at best. It's usually way too dense, or sickeningly sweet, or having a weird aftertaste of the preservatives in store-bought dough. So, I mean, it's fine and all, but not my favorite.

As a result, when I saw that the next recipe in my book was for Coffee-Caramel Monkey Bread, let's just say I wasn't chomping at the bit. But Rose saw the photo and was excited, so it seemed like the least I could do for her on a Sunday morning. Plus I'd get to check this one off and get it out of the way.

I did all the prep work on Saturday afternoon/evening, so it could do its second rise in the fridge and be ready to pop in the oven first thing in the morning. Rose and her friend Allie were excellent helpers when it came to rolling the dough into 1" balls, covering them in melted butter, and rolling them in cinnamon sugar.

When it finally came out of the oven on Sunday morning, it actually looked appetizing to me! But the big question was how it would taste....

Verdict: This recipe was a revelation. It turns out that I actually DO like caramel (I mean, what's not to love about butter and brown sugar?!), so I must just not like "caramel" flavor. Which shouldn't be a surprise, because usually the chemicalized versions of classics are never as good as the homemade original - same for the dough in monkey bread, too, of course.  So this was surprisingly quite delicious! I've already eaten way more than I expected I would, and all three of us have been picking at the remains each time we walk by the table (tee hee).  So my bottom line is that I would definitely recommend this recipe if you know you like caramel and monkey bread, and I would also recommend if it you're like me and think you don't like either :)