These mini monkey bread buns are a special breakfast treat. The monkey bread is made with pumpkin and fall spices and topped with a delicious rum glaze. In this post, you’ll learn how to make monkey bread from scratch for an indulgent weekend breakfast or brunch.
I go a little pumpkin crazy every fall and can’t help making recipes made with pumpkin and fall spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Flourless Pumpkin Pie Muffins, Pumpkin Bread, and Pumpkin Chai Latte are just a few of the pumpkin recipes I love to make this time of year.
A week or so ago I made some Cinnamon Pumpkin Bubble Buns, which I absolutely adored, and since then I’ve been dreaming up another pumpkin breakfast treat, which brings me to this pumpkin cinnamon monkey bread.
What is Monkey Bread?
Monkey bread is a breakfast bread that is made by placing small balls of dough in a baking pan and baking them and then topping them with a sweet sauce like the rum glaze I made for this recipe. Sometimes the bread is baked in the sauce, but I like to glaze the bread after it comes out of the oven.
Monkey bread can be baked in a big pan, but I decided to do mini monkey bread and used my pumpkin baking pan*. The pumpkin pan is about the same size as a standard muffin pan.
How to Make the Dough
I made my monkey bread from scratch and used the same recipe I used to make my bubble buns. Here are the ingredients you need:
- Dry active yeast
- Warm water
- Melted butter
- Sour cream
- Pumpkin puree
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Baking soda
Once the dough is mixed and kneaded it needs to rise until it’s doubled in size. Once it’s had a chance to rise you can form the dough balls to make your monkey bread. I like to coat each dough ball with butter and then roll each ball in a cinnamon-nutmeg-sugar coating.
At this point, you can place the dough balls in the baking pan. I like to place about eight balls in each mold. Let the dough balls rise again until they’re double in size. Bake the buns for 20 minutes at 350°F.
Rum Glaze
Once the buns are baked, I like to glaze them with a simple rum glaze.
- Icing sugar
- Milk
- Dark rum
All you do is combine the ingredients for the rum glaze in a bowl. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the buns.
These mini monkey bread buns are so delicious. Sweet, ooey gooey and I love the rum glaze. They are a perfect weekend breakfast indulgence.
*Some of the links contained in this post are affiliate links. Much like referral codes, this means I earn a small commission if you purchase a product I referred (at no extra charge to you).
Cinnamon Pumpkin Monkey Pull Apart Bread Buns
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 1/2- 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
Coating
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 3 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Glaze
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp dark rum
Instructions
- Place water in bowl of stand mixer and sprinkle yeast over. Let stand until bubbly, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Stir in butter, sour cream, sugar, egg, pumpkin and vanilla. Beat in 3 cups of flour, the salt and baking soda until incorporated. Add remaining 1/2 cup of flour and continue to mix until a smooth, soft dough forms. If dough does not come together, add another 1/4 cup of flour. The dough should remain sticky and wet (you don't want to add too much flour and dry out the dough) but you should be able to remove entire dough from mixing bowl.
- Knead dough until smooth, using the dough hook attachment, about 2-3 minutes. Place dough in a glass bowl greased with oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- In a small bowl, mix cinnamon and sugar for coating. In another small bowl, melt butter in the microwave. Grease mini bundt pans. My pumpkin mini bundts are about the size of muffin pans. Roll dough into a long cylinder and then divide into 12 equal portions (less if you have bigger and fewer pans). Divide each of the 12 portions into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
- For each bun, coat eight balls with melted butter and then roll them in the cinnamon-nutmeg sugar. Arrange 8 balls in each prepared muffin cup.
- Cover buns loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until puffy and have doubled in size, about 40 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake buns until golden and dough is fully cooked, about 20 minutes. Let cool in pan.
- Place buns on a wire rack. Place a piece of parchment paper underneath wire rack. In a small bowl, mix glaze ingredients and stir until smooth. Drizzle tops of bread buns with glaze.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
