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It’s September, and pumpkin caramel monkey bread is here for us! Soft, buttery, bready bites coated in gooey caramel sauce and a drizzle of white chocolate, all ready to go in 30 minutes. Yes, please!
Pumpkin Caramel Monkey Bread
- Take Me To The Pumpkin Caramel Monkey Bread Recipe
- Lindsay’s Notes
- Making This Step-by-Step
- Watch How to Make This Recipe
- FAQs
- Reviews
Lindsay’s Notes
I’ve never seen a group of people turn into a pack of hungry wolves as quickly as it happened when I pulled this out of the oven last week. Friends and family just descended on it and it was gone almost immediately.
I’ve made this several times now, and without fail, this will bring the people around. They will be hungry. They may or may not use forks. Things will get a little chaotic. A drizzle and a drip here. Sauce licking over there. White chocolate on little fingers. “Just one more bite” a few more times.
This is the perfect recipe for the first back-to-school week that we’re in – we need something special for this Saturday morning, Minnesota is giving us fall, and also: we’re tired. Thank goodness this recipe can do it all.
This idea came from the 100 Morning Treats cookbook by Sarah Kieffer (affiliate link) – a Minnesota gem and talent! I first saw this idea in her book; I didn’t have time to do it the fully-made-from-scratch way, so I made an easier, slightly different version based on her genius.
The main thing to know: you basically make a caramel sauce and whisk some pumpkin in. I like my caramel sauce to be extra rich, which is why I used heavy cream, and I prefer the butter and brown sugar flavor to be the dominant one, which is why I didn’t clutter the sauce with any other spices. You can use more or less pumpkin; these are the amounts I settled on to get a sauce that I thought was still appropriately silky and runny, but still had the addition of pumpkin, which makes it almost officially fall. Right? I’m not ready but I’m ready!
Let’s Walk Through Making This Pumpkin Caramel Monkey Bread
Step 1: Make the Pumpkin Caramel.
Basically, you whisk pumpkin into caramel. It’s… very delicious.
Step 2: Toss Your Dough with Cinnamon Sugar.
You can use a few types of dough here – for these photo I’m using refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough. It’s the easiest, and right now, I love whatever is easiest.
Step 3: Pour the Caramel Over the Dough.
I usually save about 1/2 cup of the caramel for drizzling and dipping after it comes out of the oven.
Step 4: Bake and Invert Onto a Plate.
Have fun. It is just delightful.
And then, to finish it off, a white chocolate drizzle.
It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s never not gone within an hour.
We LOVE this recipe!
Watch How To Make This Recipe
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Pumpkin Caramel Monkey Bread
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
Description
Soft, buttery bites coated in gooey pumpkin caramel sauce and a drizzle of white chocolate. My family loves this pumpkin caramel monkey bread!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Pumpkin Caramel:
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree (unsweetened)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- a good pinch of kosher salt, to taste
Bread:
- one 16-ounce can refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
White Chocolate Drizzle:
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Instructions
- Make the Caramel: Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add brown sugar, heavy cream, pumpkin, vanilla, and salt. Whisk until smooth. Bring to a low simmer and let it bubble until it’s slightly thickened, 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Prep the Dough: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the biscuits into 6 even pieces (half, then into thirds). Toss the biscuit pieces with cinnamon and sugar. Transfer to a round 9-inch cake pan or baking dish.
- Assemble: Pour most of the pumpkin caramel over the biscuits until mostly covered. Set aside the remaining 1/4 to 1/2 cup caramel for topping.
- Bake: Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, let rest for just 2-3 minutes and then invert onto a serving plate.
- Optional Topping: Melt the white chocolate and coconut oil in the microwave in 15 second increments, stirring in between. Once melted, drizzle over the monkey bread. Drizzle with reserved pumpkin caramel (optional). Serve warm.
Notes
To use with Rhodes frozen dinner rolls: Thaw the rolls for about 45 minutes at room temperature. Cut into 4 pieces, toss with cinnamon sugar and an extra tablespoon or two of melted butter. Transfer to the baking dish and let it sit on the counter for another 1 hour to allow the dough to rise. Once the dough has doubled, pour the sauce over and bake according to the recipe above – adding a few extra minutes if needed.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: pumpkin caramel, monkey bread
Frequently Asked Questions For Pumpkin Caramel Monkey Bread
Rhodes frozen dinner rolls work well here! We also have a recipe for monkey bread that uses a homemade brioche – that is excellent if you have the time!
First of all, I doubt you will have many! Secondly, if you do have any, I would keep them wrapped on a plate for a day or two in the fridge (because the sauce is more wet than a normal caramel) and just reheat in the oven or microwave.
This is heavily based around both gluten and dairy, but I think you could follow the same format here if you just used a gluten-free bread option (like this) and a dairy-free caramel option (like this). If you’re looking for something that is naturally gluten and fairy free, these no-baked salted caramel cups are super fun and reeeeally good!
I think you could – but I would increase the amounts. As written, the recipe is just right for a 9-inch round cake pan or baking dish, so you’d probably want to 1.5x or 2x the recipe to fill a bundt pan (and adjust the baking time so you ensure the middle gets fully cooked).
