Gooey Pineapple Flambe Monkey Bread

A few weeks ago I received my Food Porn Daily cookbook in the mail. Needless to say, I am obsessed. I spent the first hour after I opened it flipping through the pages, marking which recipes I would need to make first. There are so many delicious recipes in this book!! Seriously, anything from roasted chicken, to crab cakes, to donuts, to salads. If you love to cook, bake, and try new recipes, get this book! It’s amazing.

The first recipe I tried was the monkey bread. I discovered that I love working with yeast and making your own dough for this makes it a billion times better. I substituted a few ingredients and it still came out incredibly delicious. Although this is a time consuming recipe because you have to let the dough rise twice, it’s actually very simple.

The gooey pineapple flambe adds to much flavor to this classic dessert. I’ve never actually make classic monkey bread, but I don’t think I ever will. This fun and sweet dessert will definitely be sure to impress monkey bread lovers, guaranteed!

Gooey Pineapple Flambé Monkey Bread
from Food Porn Daily The Cookbook

For the dough:

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1/4 + 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 pkg active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water (105º)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 8oz sour cream
  • 2 3/4-3 1/2 cups flour

For the topping:

  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cups brown sugar (packed)
  • 2 cups pineapple, diced (or 2 cups of diced canned pineapple, drained)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup bourbon (I actually didn’t have bourbon on hand, so I used Disaronno Amaretto in it’s place. The flavor was still very delicious, but it did not light on fire. The mixture still turned into a thick syrup.)
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

For the coating:

  • 1/2c brown sugar (packed)
  • 1/4t salt
  • 2t ground cinnamon
  • 4T butter

Directions:

Preheat over to 375 degrees.

With a liberal amount of oil, grease a large mixing bowl for the dough and set aside.

In a small saucepan over med-high heat, melt butter for dough. once butter has melted, add a 1/4 cup sugar and salt, stirring to dissolve. Whisk in sour cream until smooth. Heat mixture until lukewarm then remove from heat.

While sour cream mixture is heating, add warm water and 1 tablespoon sugar to yeast in small mixing bowl and allow to sit for 5 minutes to activate (it should begin to foam/bubble. If it doesn’t after 5 minutes, throw it out and start again).

Add lukewarm sour cream mixture to mixing bowl along with yeast and 1 cup of flour. Mix thoroughly. Add another 1 3/4 cups flour, slowly and mix until fully incorporated. (You want the dough to be soft but not real sticky or wet. During the kneading process you will be able to incorporate more flour, so it’s okay if the dough is just slightly sticky at this point. It’s much harder to add liquid once the dough has been formed, so I suggest adding less flour in the beginning and working it in as you kneed. I find that 3 cups of flour gives me the soft dough texture desired.)

Knead dough by hand, or in mixer for about 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and separates from the sides of the bowl (add more flour if it’s sticking). Shape dough into ball and place in greased mixing bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and kitchen towel and set aside to double in size (about an hour at room temp).

**I found this tip on another food blog. Haven’t tried it, but it seems like a good trick! Place a pan of boiling water in your oven (which is OFF) and add your covered bowl of dough. This creates the perfect conditions for proofing your dough; heat and humidity. It will also decrease the amount of time needed for the dough to double in size.**

While dough is rising, prepare topping. Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Once butter has melted, add brown sugar and stir until melted/dissolved. Stir in pineapple and salt and cook for 3 minutes. Pour in bourbon and carefully light the bourbon on fire.

Let the pineapple mixture simmer over med to med-low heat for 15-20 minutes until the liquid has nearly turned into a syrup. Remove from heat and pour into a 9″ cake pan and allow to cool to room temp.

Combine brown sugar, salt and cinnamon for coating in a small bowl. Meanwhile, melt butter in separate bowl. Once the dough has doubled in size, pinch off 14 equal sized pieces of dough and roll into balls (for smaller bite-sized pieces, make about 18-20). Dip each ball into the melted butter then roll in cinnamon-brown sugar mixture. Arrange coated dough balls on top of pineapple. Once finished, cover cake pan with plastic wrap and towel and allow to double in size again (another 30-40 minutes).

Remove wrap and towel and place pan over/on baking sheet to catch any drippings. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes to let the gooey pineapple syrup to set before removing.

Run knife along edge of pan and invert onto plate. Serve immediately, and try not to eat it all yourself in one sitting! Enjoy!