Aunt Inez's Monkey Bread

This old-school monkey bread keeps things gloriously simple: quartered buttermilk biscuits tumbled in cinnamon sugar, stacked in a tube pan, and drenched with melted margarine before baking.

The magic happens as those biscuit pieces puff up and fuse together, creating a pull-apart bread with caramelized edges and soft, doughy centers. Make sure to grease that tube pan well and seal the bottom tight, or your sugary glaze will escape.

Don’t skip the leftover cinnamon mixture sprinkled between the layers. That extra sugar melts into pockets of gooey sweetness throughout the bread instead of just coating the outside.

Kitchen Tips

• Quarter the biscuits evenly so they bake at the same rate. Uneven chunks mean some pieces dry out while others stay raw in the middle.
• Pack the pan loosely. If you cram the pieces in too tight, the center stays doughy. Give them room to expand.
• Let it cool 5 minutes in the pan, then flip onto a plate while still warm. Wait too long and the caramel hardens, gluing the bread to the pan.
• Swap margarine for butter if you want richer flavor. The result is noticeably better.

Variations

• Cream cheese stuffed: Tuck small cubes of cream cheese between biscuit pieces before baking for a tangy surprise in every pull.
• Brown sugar version: Replace white sugar with brown sugar and add a splash of vanilla to the melted margarine for deeper, more toffee-like flavor.