Monkey Bread Muffins

For anyone out there who absolutely loves Monkey Bread (it's amazing- will change your life), this recipe is awesome and great to serve to a bigger crowd because they are in individual servings. Regular monkey bread is baked in a bundt pan and is much more of a free-for-all, everyone's fingers breaking off a smidgen of deliciousness from the communal cake. Don't get me wrong, this is perfectly appropriate for certain settings such as with your family on Christmas day. However, when serving to people who don't share the same germs, this is a great idea!Monkey Bread Mini-Muffins
Crepes of Wrath

For the dough:
2 3/4 cups bread flour (plus more for kneading)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cup very warm water (I just turned my faucet to its hottest setting, I didn’t microwave the water or anything)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature

For the coating:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For the icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-4 teaspoons whole milk

1. In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups of the bread flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt and yeast. Add in the warm water, unsalted butter and the egg. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently as needed. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle and not too sticky.

On lightly floured surface, knead the dough about 5 minutes or until it is smooth and springy. Grease a medium bowl with butter and place dough in the bowl, turning the dough to grease all its sides. Cover it loosely with plastic wrap or a clean cloth and allow it to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until it has doubled in size. The dough is ready to go if you press into it with your finger and the indentation stays for a minute or so.

2. Grease 44 mini-muffin cups (or 12-15 regular muffin cups) with butter or non-stick spray (I used non-stick spray). In small bowl, mix the 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar and 4 teaspoons cinnamon. Punch down the down if needed. Divide the dough into 44 equal ping-pong ball sized pieces for mini-muffins (a lot of work, but worth it) or 12 equal pieces for regular sized muffins. Pinch each piece into 3 small dime-sized balls for mini-muffins or 6 smaller balls for regular muffins.

3. Dip the smaller balls into the butter, then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place the corresponding balls (3 dime-sized and cinnamon-sugar coated balls for the mini-muffins, for example) into greased muffin tins side-by-side. Do this until you’ve used up all of your dough.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-14 minutes for mini-muffins or 20-24 minutes for regular sized muffins. Allow to cool completely before icing and/or removing. If you take them out before they’ve cooled, they will most likely fall apart.

5. Combine your icing ingredients and drizzle over the muffins (you want the icing to be thin enough to drizzle, but still thick enough that it will stick to your spoon for a bit before falling off). Allow the icing to harden, then jimmy the muffins out with a butter knife or pop them out if they are less temperamental than mine were. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for 24 hours, then store in an air-tight container in the fridge for another day or two.