This apple monkey bread is ultra gooey, stuffed with caramel, and tastes like cinnamon apples! The dough is an easy, no knead recipe and makes the most delicious soft and fluffy dough. It comes together so quickly and easily. By stuffing them with chewy caramels, you get a gooey, delicious caramel in each monkey bread bite. No need to cook a caramel sauce for a delicious, caramel cinnamon apple monkey bread. The monkey bread is easy to pull apart thanks to coating each piece with sugar and butter, as opposed to cooking a caramel sauce and pouring it over before baking.
If you love monkey bread, you're going to want to check out my pumpkin monkey bread that's stuffed with cheesecake!
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🍎 Why you'll LOVE this recipe
- Stuffed with caramel: Each fluffy bite is stuffed with gooey, sticky caramel.
- Apple: Cubed apples add the perfect tang and apple flavor to the monkey bread.
- Gooey: The sugar, butter, and apple juice create a gooey, delicious syrup in the oven as the monkey bread bakes.
- Easy, no knead dough: Soft, fluffy, tender, and you just mix it all together and let it rise! So easy to make.
- No cooking caramel: You get all of the caramel flavor without making a caramel sauce.
📝 Key ingredients
Read through for all the tips you will need for success!
Full steps and ingredients in recipe card below.
- All purpose flour: Weigh the flour to get the most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, measure properly by stirring the bag and spooning gently into a measuring cup. Scrape the excess off the top with the flat edge off a knife without packing it into the cup.
- Caramels: Soft, chewy caramels like Werthers work great! I like to cut them in half so that I could make the balls of dough smaller.
- Apples: Look for a firm, tart variety like Granny Smith or Northern Spy. These will bake up and add the best apple flavor! In a pinch, any apple will do.
- Cinnamon: A touch of ground cinnamon makes the cinnamon apple monkey bread flavor pop and gives the apple monkey bread a delicious cinnamon roll flavor. You could also add other warm spices like nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom for a spiced apple twist.
- Active dry yeast: If you use instant yeast then you don't need to dissolve it into the water. Just check the expiry date to make sure it isn't expired and mix it directly into the dough. Make sure you add the warm water into the dough as well before mixing it all together.
- Light brown sugar or golden sugar: I don't recommend using medium or dark brown sugar because the monkey bread turns out too dark. Granulated sugar is a better option than brown sugar.
- Butter: Since you'll be using a good amount of butter for coating the balls of monkey bread, I recommend using unsalted butter because salted butter might make it too salty.
- Sour cream: Adds moisture and tenderness to the monkey bread dough.
- Lemon juice: The juice from half a fresh lemon brightens the apple flavor and makes it even more flavorful. It also prevents the apples from browning until you're ready to use them.
👩🍳 How to make apple monkey bread
Monkey bread step by step
Dissolve yeast: In a small bowl, combine warm water, yeast, and ½ teaspoon sugar. Mix together to combine. Let it sit for 8 minutes. If a foam forms on top, then the yeast is active and good to use. If it doesn't, your yeast may be expired or bad. Try a different pack of yeast.
Step 1: Add the flour into a large bowl. Make a well into the center of the flour.
Into the flour, add the sugar, butter, egg, sour cream, salt, vanilla, and milk. Then add the dissolved yeast. Mix to form a dough. Cover the dough with a cloth and place in a warm area to rise for 30 minutes, until doubled in size.
Step 2: Peel and core the apples. Cut the apples into small ¼" cubes.
Step 3: Place the cubed apples into a bowl and add the lemon juice on top. Stir to coat the apples and set aside.
Step 4: Lift the edges of the risen dough inside the bowl, stretching them over the rest of the dough. Repeat until the dough deflates, about 6 times. Dust a flat, clean surface with flour.
Cut the dough in half. Set aside one half. Cut the dough in half again and cut each half into eight pieces. Each half of the dough should give you 16 pieces, resulting in 32 pieces total.
Step 5: Stuff the dough with half a caramel by gently flattening the dough, placing a caramel inside, pinching the edges shut, and rolling gently into a ball. Repeat with all of the dough.
Step 6: Butter the inside of a bundt pan with a knob of cold butter. Sprinkle one tablespoon of cinnamon sugar into the bottom. Then, add half of the diced apples into the bundt pan.
Step 7: Melt the butter in a bowl. Mix the golden sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
Step 8: One by one, dip the stuffed dough balls into the melted butter, then into the sugar mixture. Place into the bundt pan. Halfway through, sprinkle the rest of the apples. Once all of the dough is coated, pour any leftover butter on top.
Step 9: Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C). Let the dough rise inside the bundt pan while the oven warms up. Once the oven is preheated, bake the monkey bread for 30-32 minutes until when you push on a piece of dough it springs back to the touch.
Step 10: Let the monkey bread cool for 10 minutes. Place a large plate, upside down, over the monkey bread and flip the whole thing over to release the monkey bread.
Monkey bread is best enjoyed warm!
✔️ Expert monkey bread tips
- Don't use hard caramels! Use soft, chewy caramels because hard caramels will be really hard on your teeth and won't give you that ooey gooey filling.
- Weigh the flour: to get the most accurate results. If you don’t have a scale, measure properly by stirring the bag and spooning gently into a measuring cup. Scrape the excess off the top with the flat edge off a knife without packing it into the cup.
- Cool the monkey bread for only 10 minutes before flipping it over: Just like a bundt cake, you don't want the monkey bread to cool inside the pan completely or else it will stick.
- Stop mixing as soon as the dough comes together: Initially you want to mix the dough until it starts to look cohesive. You don't need to knead it until it's smooth or it can turn out quite tough and dry.
🥄 Make ahead and storage
Monkey bread is best served warm but you can make it ahead of time and reheat before serving. After baking, remove it from the mold, cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Then, reheat gently in the oven or microwave before enjoying. Reheating makes the bread soft and fluffy again.
🥄 How to make overnight monkey bread
Monkey bread is best served warm. To make it ahead of time, once all of the pieces are covered in sugar and inside the bundt pan, you can wrap it tightly and refrigerate it overnight (for up to 10 hours). Then remove it from the fridge while you preheat the oven, pour the cream over the top, and bake as usual.
📖 Recipe FAQs
No, you can't use hard caramels because once the monkey bread cools down, the caramels will become hard again and won't give you that delicious, soft and gooey caramel center.
You can't substitute gluten free flour for the all purpose flour in this recipe. Since this is a yeast based dough, it won't work out. I recommend using a gluten free recipe.
Yes you could, you may need to increase the baking time because there isn't a hole in the center that allows for faster heating.
🍏 More related apple recipes
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📖 Recipe
Apple Monkey Bread [Stuffed with Caramel]
Ingredients
Monkey bread dough
- ¼ cup warm water
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 3 cups all purpose flour 360g
- ¼ cup light brown (or golden) sugar packed
- ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 large egg room temperature
- ¼ cup sour cream room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup milk warm
- 16 Soft chewy caramels, cut in half
Apples
- 2 large apples
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Cinnamon Sugar Mixture
- 1 cup light brown sugar or golden sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup butter melted
Instructions
Monkey Bread Dough
- In a small bowl, combine warm water, yeast, and ½ teaspoon sugar. Mix together to combine. Let it sit for 8 minutes. If a foam forms on top, then the yeast is active and good to use. If it doesn't, your yeast may be expired or bad. Try a different pack of yeast.¼ cup warm water, ½ teaspoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- Add the flour into a large bowl. Make a well into the center of the flour.3 cups all purpose flour
- Into the flour, add the sugar, butter, egg, sour cream, salt, vanilla, and milk. Then add the dissolved yeast. Use a danish whisk or a large spoon to mix to form a dough.¼ cup light brown (or golden) sugar, ¼ cup unsalted butter, 1 large egg, ¼ cup sour cream, ¼ teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, ¼ cup milk
- Cover the dough with a cloth and place in a warm area to rise for 30 minutes, until doubled in size. While the dough rises prepare the apples and cinnamon sugar.
Apples
- Peel and core the apples.2 large apples
- Cut the apples into small ¼" cubes. Place the cubed apples into a bowl and add the lemon juice on top. Stir to coat the apples and set aside.1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Cinnamon Sugar Mixture
- Combine sugar and cinnamon in one medium bowl. Melt the butter in a separate medium bowl. Set both aside.1 cup light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ cup butter
- Unwrap the caramels and cut them in half. You can keep them whole if you prefer for extra stuffed monkey bread. Place them on a piece of parchment paper because caramels will stick to everything.16 Soft
Assembly
- Lift the edges of the risen dough inside the bowl, stretching them over the rest of the dough. Repeat until the dough deflates, about 6 times.
- Dust a flat, clean surface with flour. Place the dough on top and dust with more flour.
- Cut the dough in half. Set aside one half while you work with the second half. Cut the dough in half again and cut each half into eight pieces. Each half of the dough should give you 16 pieces, resulting in 32 pieces total.
- Stuff the dough with caramel by gently flattening the dough, placing a caramel inside, pinching the edges shut, and rolling gently into a ball. Repeat with all of the dough.
- Butter the inside of a bundt pan with a knob of cold butter. Sprinkle one tablespoon of cinnamon sugar into the bottom. Then, add half of the diced apples into the bundt pan.
- One by one, roll the pieces of dough into the melted butter. Then roll the piece of dough into the cinnamon sugar to coat liberally. Place into the bundt pan. Halfway through, sprinkle the rest of the apples.
- Once all of the dough is coated, pour any leftover butter on top.
- Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C). Let the dough rise inside the bundt pan while the oven warms up. Once the oven is preheated, bake the monkey bread for 30-32 minutes until when you push on a piece of dough it springs back to the touch.
- Let the monkey bread cool for 10 minutes. Place a large plate, upside down, over the monkey bread and flip the whole thing over to release the monkey bread. Best enjoyed warm.
Notes
- Don't use hard caramels! Use soft, chewy caramels
- Weigh the flour to get the most accurate results
- Cool the monkey bread for only 10 minutes before flipping it over
- Stop mixing as soon as the dough comes together
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