Mardi Gras Monkey Bread Muffins are a great alternative to king’s cake!

Any excuse to eat cinnamon sugar filled pastries, is what I’m saying!

I love King’s Cake.

If you’ve never had King’s Cake it’s a yeasted dough pastry, usually in a circle (think large donut) and it’s filled with cinnamon sugar and topped with a glaze and the Mardi Gras colored sprinkles! It also has a plastic baby Jesus baked into it…

Kinda weird, but just go with it!

…and whoever finds the baby Jesus in their slice has some kind of privilege or obligation. I’ve usually seen that that person brings the King’s Cake the next year.

But, basically it’s just fun!

Instead of doing the full on King’s Cake, I thought it would be especially fun to make individual King’s Cakes with a twist! Because everyone loves Monkey Bread, it was only natural that everyone got an individual Monkey Bread Muffin.

Ya know…

Because you don’t have to share.

Again, it’s just fun. So if you’re celebrating Mardi Gras this year or just want to make these for your family, I highly recommend them. The muffins are made with 100% whole wheat flour and the caramelized cinnamon sugar surrounding the little muffin bites are mouthwatering.

Just what you need to start your day.

Lots of sugar.

Do it.

Mardi Gras Monkey Bread Muffins

adapted from The Baker Chick

Ingredients

Dough

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3 cups white whole wheat flour, divided
• 1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Coating

• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Frosting

• 1 jar of vanilla frosting (or your own homemade frosting!)
• green, purple and yellow food coloring
• gold edible sprinkles

How-To

1. Heat the milk until it’s hot (hotter than bath water) in either a microwave safe bowl or in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter until melted. Allow the milk/butter mixture to cool until lukewarm.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine 2 cups of the flour, yeast, sugar and salt together. Add in the water, vanilla, egg and milk/butter mixture, beating with your mixer. Add in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time. You may have to switch to using a spatula to mix at this point instead of your mixer because of the stickiness.
3. When the dough comes together into a ball, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. This will take about 5 minutes and the dough will spring back when lightly pressed.
4. Put the dough into a large, greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for 45-60 minutes, or until doubled in size. This will work best in a warm, draft free place.
5. Meanwhile, spray a 12 muffin tin with cooking spray, as well as combining the brown sugar and cinnamon for the coating in a small bowl.
6. Once the dough has proofed, transfer it back to a lightly floured surface and spread it out into a large rectangle. Use a pizza cutter or dough scrapper to cut the dough into 1-inch squares and roll in the palm of your hand into little balls.
7. Dip each dough ball into the butter and then coat it with the brown sugar/cinnamon coating and place 6 coated dough balls into each muffin well.
8. Once all the muffin wells are filled, cover the muffin tin with a clean dish towel and allow it to rise for another 20-30 minutes.
9. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a cooling rack until you’re ready to decorate!
10. To prepare your frosting, divide the frosting into three bowls, adding one color into each until you reach a dark enough color. Drizzle over the cooled muffins using pastry bags or plastic bags like this. Sprinkle with gold sprinkles.

Servings: 12 muffins