Overnight Coffee Bread

This is the warm, pull-apart sweet bread that looks like you spent the morning baking when really you spent five minutes the night before. Frozen dinner rolls go straight into a bundt pan, get blanketed with a mixture of vanilla pudding mix, brown sugar, cinnamon, chopped pecans, and melted butter. Cover with a towel and leave it on the counter overnight. The rolls thaw, rise, and absorb everything around them as they sit.

In the morning, slide the pan into the oven for 30 minutes. The pudding mix is the unusual ingredient. As the rolls bake together, the dry pudding caramelizes with the butter and brown sugar into a sticky toffee-like glaze that coats every piece. Invert onto a plate, pull apart with your hands, and serve warm with coffee.

Pro Tips

• Stick with the same brand of frozen rolls once you find one you like. Different brands rise to different sizes and need different bake times.
• Place the bundt pan on a sheet tray on the counter overnight. Any drips from rising rolls land on the tray instead of the counter.
• A standard bundt pan works, but a tube pan or angel food pan does too. Just match the volume.
• Test the center with a wooden skewer before pulling. Inverted before fully baked and the middle stays raw.
• Invert immediately onto a plate while hot. Let the bread cool in the pan and the caramel glues itself in place.

Variations

• Use butterscotch pudding mix in place of vanilla for a deeper caramel flavor.
• Substitute walnuts or chopped almonds for the pecans.
• Drizzle the cooled bread with a simple powdered sugar glaze for extra sweetness.