Monkey Bread Muffins with Brown Butter Glaze

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Super simple Monkey Bread Muffins recipe made with just a few ingredients! We use refrigerated biscuits to make these gooey, cinnamon muffins. They’re a great alternative to our classic monkey bread but made in muffin tins for individual servings.

These are perfect for brunchesChristmas mornings, or even an afternoon snack! These have become a favorite treat in our home and make the perfect breakfast when paired with a fresh fruit platter.

We’ve been making easy monkey bread muffins for years. The flavor is similar to cinnamon rolls but a lot easier to make. These cinnamon and sugar muffins are covered in brown butter icing that adds even more flavor. Add pecans or zest over the top for a festive flavor!

Monkey bread muffins with glaze.

We love that each muffin has layers of buttery dough that you can pull apart. The glaze seeps through the layers creating the ultimate monkey bread muffin.

The edges are golden brown and crispy and the middle is a perfect, sweet, soft biscuit. You, you’re family and your guests will love these!

Also, check out the best blueberry muffins, orange cranberry muffins, banana blueberry muffins, blackberry muffins, pistachio muffins, and our very popular coconut loaf. They’re all amazing and perfect recipes for brunch.

Before we start with the recipe, read what is monkey bread to learn more about this fun treat!

Fun Facts About Monkey Bread

  • Monkey bread is also known as plucking cake, pull-apart bread, bubble bread, sticky bread, and Hungarian coffee cake.
  • Hungarian immigrants brought this dish with them when they immigrated to America. Hungarian Jewish bakeries sold it in the mid-twentieth century.
  • Commonly served at carnivals and festivals.

How to Make Monkey Bread Muffins

These are fun to make and great for kids to participate too! Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Muffin Tin + Muffin Liners – 6-cup muffin tins work for these muffins.
  • Mixing Bowls – A large bowl and a medium bowl.
Pilsbury Grand Biscuits, melted butter and cinnamon and sugar

Monkey Bread Muffin Ingredient Notes

This is an easy monkey bread muffin recipe that uses simple ingredients. Find all of these ingredients at your local grocery store.

The full recipe and measurements are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

  • Refrigerated Biscuits – We use Pillsbury Grand Flakey Biscuits. Canned biscuits are what make this one of our easy recipes!
  • Granulated Sugar – White sugar sweetens the recipe and is used for rolling the dough in.
  • Ground Cinnamon – Adds flavor and a little spice. It’s mixed with the sugar to roll the dough in.
  • Ground Cardamom – One of our favorite spices! It can be left out, but we love the flavor it adds to these muffins.
  • Melted Butter – Adds flavor and a super moist texture. This is used for rolling the dough and for making a brown butter glaze.
  • Confectioners Sugar – Also known as powdered sugar, makes a sweet and creamy glaze.
Monkey bread in muffin tins.

Monkey Bread Muffins in 5 Steps

1. Prepare a muffin tin with liners. Then simply, cut each biscuit layer into 4 small pieces and roll each piece into small balls.

2. Dip one ball at a time in the butter first, then roll in cinnamon and sugar.

3. Add 5 small balls covered in sugar into each muffin tin, gently pressing down.

4. Lastly, bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 10 minutes or until the muffins are done.

5. The tops of the muffins will be golden brown and have almost doubled in size

Brown butter glaze drizzled over monkey bread muffins.

Brown Butter Glaze

We top these monkey bread muffins with a delicious, homemade brown butter glaze. It adds so much gooeyness and deliciousness to the muffins!

It’s made with butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, milk, and a little cardamom for extra flavor.

To make the glaze, simply combine the sugar, vanilla, cardamom, and milk in a mixing bowl.

In a small saucepan, brown the butter by letting it simmer for about 10 minutes until it starts to brown.

Pour the browned butter over the sugar and whisk until it’s smooth as icing.

Easy monkey bread muffin with brown butter glaze.

Tips for Making Monkey Bread Muffins

Here are some tips for recipe success!

  • Don’t add more than 5 little biscuit balls to each muffin tin.
  • Swap out the cardamom for nutmeg or another fall spice.
  • Double this recipe to make 12 muffins.
  • No need to shake the dough balls in a bag with the cinnamon and sugar, rolling them in the sugar mixture after dipping them in butter works perfectly.
  • If you’re using frozen biscuit dough, be sure to let it thaw on the counter before making the muffins.
  • Serve these when they’re warm for the best flavor and texture.

Make These Ahead of Time

If you want to make these muffins ahead of time, you can! Follow all of the steps right before they are baked. Instead of baking them, cover them in the muffin tin with plastic wrap or tinfoil.

Refrigerate overnight and when you’re ready to bake the next day, remove the wrap and bake.

Remember the baking time may vary a little when they’re cold.

You can also make the glaze ahead of time too and whip it again before drizzling it over warm muffins.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s Monkey Bread Made Of?

Monkey bread is a sweet, gooey cinnamon roll-like bread that is made from balls of dough rolled in cinnamon sugar. It’s made with biscuit dough, cinnamon, white sugar, and butter and is baked together to create an amazing sticky, cinnamon bread that is perfect for brunch.

How do you know when monkey bread muffins are done?

The muffins will puff up and almost double in size. The tops will be golden brown and the butter will be bubbly.
Use a toothpick or fork to poke in the center of the muffin. You want to aim for the thicker parts. A clean toothpick means done, and a sticky one means the muffins need another minute.

Does Monkey Bread Require a Bundt Pan?

Monkey bread muffins do not require a bundt pan! Use a regular muffin tin or cupcake tin to make these.

Does monkey bread have to be refrigerated?

Monkey bread does not have to be refrigerated. The bread can be stored at room temperature in a cool, dry place for up to 4 days. If you want to extend the shelf-life of your monkey bread, you can wrap it tightly and store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Muffins with cinnamon and sugar and a glaze.

Can you Freeze Monkey Bread?

We highly recommend eating monkey bread fresh from the oven, as it doesn’t get better than that! However, if you want to freeze them you can.

Wrap them tightly and store them in an airtight container for 3 months. Warm them in the oven or microwave before eating. 

You may need to add more glaze or melted butter over the top to freshen them up.

Does monkey bread have to be refrigerated?

We do recommend refrigerating leftover muffins. However, you can leave them out for one day and store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They are best served warm, so no matter how you store them we recommend warming them up before eating. 

Monkey Bread Muffin Variations

Add chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds to the top of the muffins.

Drizzle with caramel sauce instead of icing.

Add dried fruit over the top like cranberries or dried orange slices chopped.

Substitute the cardamom for other spices like nutmeg or allspice.

Drizzle with homemade chocolate ganache sauce.

When to Serve This Monkey Bread Muffin Recipe

This recipe is perfect for a lazy Saturday or Sunday morning. It’s also great for any of these occasions:

Christmas Morning Brunch

Carnival Party

Easter Brunch

More Recipes You’ll Love

If you love this recipe, here are more of our favorite brunch recipes!

Easy Cornbread Muffins

Chocolate Chip Biscuit S’more

Apple Cider Doughnuts

The Perfect Pancake Recipe

Easy Pumpkin Pancake Recipe

Super Moist Banana Bread

Coffee Crumb Cake

Also, check out all of our favorite brunch recipes and the best brunch cocktails to serve!

monkey bread muffins with crushed pecans

Let us know if you make this monkey bread muffin recipe by leaving a comment and review below.

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monkey bread muffins with glaze

Monkey Bread Muffins

Super simple Monkey Bread Muffins recipe made with just a few ingredients! We use refrigerated biscuits to make these gooey, cinnamon muffins
5 from 5 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Brunch
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
5 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 6 Muffins
Calories: 404kcal
Author: Eden

Ingredients

Monkey Bread Muffins

  • 1 can biscuits , Pillsbury Grand (we used extra butter!)
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Brown Butter Glaze

  • 8 tbsp unsalted butter, browned
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 6 tbsp milk

Instructions

Monkey Bread Muffins

  • Prepare and muffin tin with liners. This recipe makes 6 muffins.
  • Melt butter in one bowl and combine cinnamon, sugar and cardamom in another bowl.
  • Pull apart the refrigerated biscuits.
    Pilsbury Grand Biscuits
  • Cut each biscuit layer into 4 small pieces and roll each peice into small balls.
    biscuits cut into four
  • Dip one ball at a time in the buter first and then roll in cinnamon and sugar. 
    dipping a biscuit into melted butter
  • Add 5 small balls covered in sugar into each muffin tin, gently pressing down. 
    monkey bread in muffin tins
  • Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until the muffins are done.
    monkey bread muffins

Brown Butter Glaze

  • Combine sugar, vanilla, cardamom, and milk in a mixing bowl. 
  • In a small saucepan, brown the butter by letting it simmer for about 10 minutes until it starts to brown.
  • Pour the browned butter over the sugar and whisk until it's smooth as icing. 
    Pouring brown butter over powdered sugar.
  • Drizzle the icing over the monkey bread muffins and serve while warm.
    brown butter glaze drizzled over monkey bread muffins

Notes

Bake the muffins for 12-18 minutes until they are golden brown. Test them after 12 minutes and add more time if needed. 
Freeze or Refrigerate leftover muffins by storing them in an airtight container. 
For an alternative to icing, you can also drizzle homemade caramel sauce or chocolate ganache sauce instead of icing. 

Nutrition

Calories: 404kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 12mg | Potassium: 48mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 47g | Vitamin A: 732IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 1mg
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Monkey bread muffins with title.

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4 thoughts on “Monkey Bread Muffins with Brown Butter Glaze”

  1. 5 stars
    This is such an awesome muffin recipe. It brings together a classic monkey bread with a muffin, so easy to eat this way too, and perfect portions. So yummy and such a great idea!

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