Today I thought of sharing one of my favorite monkey bread spin-offs. This monkey bread with pudding is an amazing dessert to share with your friends or loved ones.

What makes it so special is the homemade vanilla pudding. Sure, you can also use an instant vanilla pudding mix to save some time. 

All in all, I really enjoyed the taste of vanilla pudding inside this sweet pull-apart bread and I can guarantee you that it was a success! Anyway, desserts with vanilla pudding are my soft spot, but you can change things up and make monkey bread with butterscotch pudding or other flavors of pudding.

Let’s dive into how to make monkey bread with vanilla pudding.

Keep reading to find out some interesting facts about monkey bread along with some tips for good monkey bread with vanilla pudding.

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Fun Facts about Monkey Bread

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Before looking into the cultural background of this dessert, the name ‘monkey bread’ seemed strange and unusual to me. Let me share what I found! 

Its name comes from the fact that this pull-apart bubbly bread is eaten with your hands, just like a monkey would do. 

I also found out that monkey bread actually comes from Hungary, Europe. It was brought to America by Jewish Hungarian immigrants and popularized by Nancy Reagan when she served it at the White House one Christmas. This dessert’s original name was ‘the golden dumpling’, or ‘arany galuska’.

Things You’ll Need for Monkey Bread with Vanilla Pudding

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Monkey bread with vanilla pudding is relatively easy to make and it will surely be a hit!

You can either make your dough at home as I will explain down below, or you can choose a pre-made dough. The same goes for the vanilla pudding. I chose to use an instant vanilla pudding mix, and I think it came out great! 

Recipes with vanilla pudding are my favorite desserts at any hour of the day, so it’s a pleasure to share this recipe! 

Ingredients

For the monkey bread dough:

• 4 cups of all-purpose flour (480 grams)
• ½ cups of white granulated sugar for the dough + 4 tablespoons for the cinnamon and sugar filling (100 grams + about 60 grams)
• ½ cups of warm milk (125 grams)
• 3 eggs 
• ⅓ cups of melted butter ( about 70 grams)
• 1 package of instant yeast
• A pinch of salt 
• Nuts or dried fruits (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of cinnamon for the cinnamon and sugar filling(about 30 grams)
• Instant vanilla pudding mix 

For the caramel coating: 

• ½ cups of brown sugar (100 grams)
• ½ cups of melted butter (100 grams)

How to make Monkey Bread with Vanilla Pudding – Step by Step Guide

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Let’s start with the dough for monkey bread vanilla pudding. If you decide to use a pre-made dough skip straight to the assembling part and replacement of ingredients to find out more about your dough alternatives. 

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. The dry ingredients are flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. 
2. Warm the milk (using cold ingredients will reduce the yeast effectiveness) and melt the butter. I usually do both of these tasks in the microwave, but you can also do it on the stove. 
3. Add the liquid ingredients to the bowl. The liquid ingredients are milk, melted butter, and eggs. 
4. Start mixing them until you have a homogenous dough. Personally, I use a mixer equipped with a hook and let it do all the hard work for me. If you don’t have a mixer with a hook, knead the dough until it has a homogenous texture. 

Tip: The dough should have a non-sticky texture. You can test this with a clean hand. The quantity of flour may depend on the flour’s quality and the other ingredients. If you feel like your dough doesn’t have the right texture, add more flour or melted butter. 

5. After you are done kneading the dough, let it sit and rest in a warm place. I like to set the oven on low temperature and leave the door slightly open to create the perfect temperature. 
6. Meanwhile, let’s start preparing our workspace for the next steps. Mix the two tablespoons of cinnamon and four tablespoons of sugar in a bowl. 
7. For this step, I followed the instructions for the instant vanilla pudding mix. The process usually includes mixing the vanilla mix powder with sugar and milk and heating it on the stove. If you want to learn how to make vanilla pudding at home, keep in mind that it’s a little difficult and tricky to achieve the right texture of your pudding. 

Tip: Here is what to do with leftover vanilla pudding: you can either eat it as it is or quickly fill up some Éclair shells add chocolate frosting. 

8. Preheat your oven to 350℉ (180℃).
9. Coat a bundt pan with cooking spray or grease ( I like to use butter) to avoid sticking. If you don’t have a bundt pan, a regular pan with high edges works just as well. 

Tip: Make sure the oven is preheated, or your monkey bread will rise before the caramel sauce begins to melt, which will lead to burning.   

10. After the resting time has passed, break pieces of the dough into the size of a large nut and spread them into squares. Sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon mixture on each of them and then add about a teaspoon of the cooled vanilla powder.
11. Mold the squares in little balls by folding the vanilla pudding inside. 
12. Arrange the balls in the bundt pan and let the monkey bread vanilla pudding sit for 15 minutes. 
13. At this time, put the butter and brown sugar in a pot on the stove for the caramel coating. Mix continuously until the sugar melts. 
14. Pour the caramel sauce into the pan.
15. Put the monkey bread into the oven and let it sit for about 45 minutes, or until it has a golden-brownish color.
16. Take the monkey bread with vanilla pudding out and let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Substitution of ingredients

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Monkey bread is a really versatile dish and there are a lot of ways to bake monkey bread. 

If you want to save some time, you can always skip the homemade dough and use pre-made frozen dough.  You can try out an easy monkey bread recipe with 1 can of biscuits, monkey bread with Rhodes rolls dough recipe, or monkey bread with crescent rolls. 

The same goes for the vanilla pudding. You can either use homemade vanilla pudding or an instant mix.  By using both pre-made dough and instant vanilla mix, you will have a monkey bread with biscuits and pudding mix ready in no time! 

For gluten-free monkey bread, simply switch to gluten-free ingredients or use any pre-made gluten-free dough. 

For vegan monkey bread, you can choose to make bread dough, which is essentially vegan.

Another amazing idea is to add fruits of your choice to your monkey bread. I like to bake banana monkey bread sometimes! 

You can also try out Rhodes rolls monkey bread without pudding, I promise it’s delicious!

Tips on Serving Monkey Bread with Vanilla Pudding

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Monkey bread with vanilla pudding can be served anytime and anywhere! I sometimes like to serve it as a pompous Sunday breakfast or family snack. It also goes well as a dessert for a guest night or other festive occasions!   

How to store Monkey Bread with Vanilla Pudding

If you have any leftovers, you can always reheat them in the oven or microwave. The only recommendation I have is to keep the monkey bread covered as it tends to harden and lose flavor.

Recipe Card: Monkey Bread with Vanilla Pudding