Quick Mini Monkey Breads ( i.e. Pull-Apart Scone Doughnuts)

There are good sides and bad sides to everyday things. 

Bad things:

• My hair gets tangled really easily, so I have to brush it which is super stressful and ends up with me getting really mad at my hairbrush
• My hair goes super frizzy when I brush it
• Trying to carry a cup of tea up two flights of stairs. In the dark.
• Waiting for nail polish to dry

Good things

• My hair has one magical property: It captures the scent of things I bake for about a day; it smells like maple syrup at the mo
• My hair looks better when it's slightly messy
• The Olympian feeling of accomplishment I get after carrying the tea up those stairs in the dark
• Pretty painted nails that smell like mango when they're dry

They balance each other out pretty nicely.

When it comes to these though, the good things outweigh the bad so much more.

Bad things

• Washing up - 1 bowl, 1 pot, 1 mini doughnut tray, utensils

Good things

• The extra monkey bread you get to eat as a reward for washing up
• caramel, nuts, chocolate and nutella
• cinnamon
• cute, small food
• eating the cute small food
• crunchy edges and fluffy insides
• no rising or kneading required!
• pulling apart the monkey bread (and then making .gifs!)

Wow- that sure was fun, wasn't it! Click on it to see it again! You know you want to...

Anyways, .gifs aside,

I made these with both pecan-caramel and nutella fudge sauce toppings, so make whichever one you want! (or half of each like I did). Then after they were all baked, I drizzled some of the extra topping on them so they had extra amazingness.

However, if you really can't be bothered with having to make the caramel / fudge sauce, then skip it out completely. They're still awesome without it and are more like pull apart cinnamon scone doughnuts which you can serve with jam!

Oh, also, you can pre-prep the scone mixture the night before, so you can make them super fast in the morning. I've indicated in the method below how much pre-prep you can do.

Enjoy :)

Quick Mini Monkey Breads ( i.e. Pull-Apart Scone Doughnuts)
Scone recipe from Grand Central Bakery Scones via Serious Eats
makes around 24 mini or 12 regular sized doughnuts

1 1/4 cup (5.5 oz / 160g)) flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup (2 oz / 55g) cold, unsalted butter
1/4 cup (80 ml) buttermilk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
optional extras: up to 1/4 a cup (4 tbsp) of chocolate chips, chopped nuts or dried fruits.

1/3 cup (2 oz / 55g) granulated sugar
1-2 tsp cinnamon

For the Caramel*
1/2 cup (4 oz / 110g) brown sugar
1/4 cup (3 oz / 85g) corn syrup / golden syrup
1/4 cup (2 oz / 55g) unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
optional: 1/3 cup (2 oz / 55g) chopped pecans

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together with a fork in a large bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the bowl. Use a pastry blender or your finger tips to cut / rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips / nuts / dried fruit.

Combine the 1/3 cup (2 oz/ 55g) of sugar and cinnamon in a wide, shallow bowl. Set aside.

Make the caramel:*
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and corn syrup and continue heating and mixing until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Take it off the heat and stir in the vanilla and milk. Set aside.

(If you're making these for breakfast, do the steps above the night before, and put the mixtures - apart from the cinnamon-sugar - in the fridge overnight.)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees F) and grease a mini doughnut pan / DIY donut pan well. Put 1/2 - 1 tsp of the caramel* mixture in the bottom of each cavity in the doughnut pan (if you refrigerated it overnight, you may need to warm it gently until its thin enough to do this). Then sprinkle in some chopped pecans (if using).

Using a fork, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and vanilla in a small jug. Add it to the flour mixture, and stir with the fork until just combined.

Take 1/2 teaspoons (or less) of the dough and roll into balls. Roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar and place into the doughnut pan - you should aim for 4-5 pieces of dough in each cavity, but the dough should only fill it 2/3 of the way.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, when they should be golden brown and slightly crusty on top. Let them cool in the pan for 2 minutes.

To remove them from the pan, first gently run a blunt knife around the outside of each monkey bread. Next twist each monkey bread, in the pan, with your hand to make sure it's not stuck at all, then turn them out onto a cooling rack, being careful of the caramel. Drizzle on any extra caramel. Store in an airtight container once cool.

*or make half a batch of Nutella Fudge Sauce, and use it just like the caramel.