Monkey Bread Cross

Our family has a tradition of eating monkey bread, sweet, gooey and delicious, on Easter morning. Usually I make it in a bundt cake pan, but this year I wanted to try making it in a cross shaped pan to honor Jesus' sacrifice for us on the cross. I bought the cross cake pan for $5 on ebay. It took me a couple trial runs to figure out how to change the recipe for the different cake pan, but no one in my family minded eating monkey bread twice this past week.

Cross Monkey Bread

• 4 packages of standard size biscuits
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 sticks margarine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut each biscuit into four quarters. Mix all dry ingredients above in a bowl.

Spray surface of cross cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Dip each individual biscuit quarter into the cinnamon sugar mixture and then into the cake pan.

Pour half of remaining sugar mixture evenly over biscuits. Melt margarine in microwave and pour all of it evenly over biscuits.

Then pour remaining sugar mixture over biscuits especially in pools of melted butter. Place cake pan on foil covered cookie sheet because it will spill over and be messy. Bake for 35-40 minutes depending on your oven. We like our monkey bread a little undercooked so we cooked it in that range. If you like it really cooked or even a little crispy, then maybe cook between 40-45 minutes. Immediately after taking out of the oven, carefully flip cake pan onto platter and let stand until cool enough to eat.

(please note the above picture was taken on a practice round when I didn't cook it long enough so that is why there is margarine and melted cinnamon seeping out when I flipped the cake pan)

If you want to make it in the traditional circle bundt cake pan, follow the same recipe as above but only cook it for 30 minutes and you don't need the cookie sheet under the cake pan. One idea for being creative with the circle monkey bread would be to put toothpicks in it and have it resemble a crown of thorns. This would be more appropriate earlier in Holy Week. Another idea on Easter Sunday would be to put a white candle in the center symbolizing Christ being the light of the world.

This post was written by Robina, at Motherly Loving, and submitted for publication here at Catholic Cuisine. Thank you Robina!