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 brunches, Christmas 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!
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.
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 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
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.
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
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.
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.
Monkey bread muffins do not require a bundt pan! Use a regular muffin tin or cupcake tin to make these.
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.
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:
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Monkey Bread Muffins
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.
- Cut each biscuit layer into 4 small pieces and roll each peice into small balls.
- Dip one ball at a time in the buter first and then roll in cinnamon and sugar.
- Add 5 small balls covered in sugar into each muffin tin, gently pressing down.
- Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until the muffins are done.
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.
- Drizzle the icing over the monkey bread muffins and serve while warm.
Notes
Nutrition
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!
This recipe is so easy and delish. I love making it with the kiddos. I like that you can freeze them for later too.