By Bread

Happy Friday! Yesterday was National Chai Day and since chai is my favorite drink I couldn’t resist the opportunity to make a chai spiced dessert! Inspired by Aladdin’s feisty sidekick, Abu’s Chai Spiced Monkey Bread is a delicious sweet and spicy treat that pairs perfectly with a drizzle of homemade caramel sauce! The combination of warm chai spices, soft baked dough, and a sticky sweet caramel makes for the perfect fall treat!

Typically, Monkey Bread is made by rolling balls of sweet yeasted dough in cinnamon sugar. But you can definitely use other kinds of dough — I’ve some some great monkey bread made with pieces of croissant dough! If you don’t want to make your own dough, you could also use store bought biscuit dough.

For this recipe, I used the dough I typically use to make cinnamon rolls. Instead of using straight cinnamon sugar, I opted to use a combination of sugar and warm spices to give it a chai spice. I also served my monkey bread with a homemade caramel sauce as I like the combination of chai and caramel and that it added an extra level of flavor.

To make the monkey bread, start by making the chai spiced sugar. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, cardamom, and ground cloves. Set the chai spiced sugar aside until you’re ready to assemble the monkey bread.

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Next make the dough. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Then, in a separate bowl, combine the milk, yeast, butter, and sugar and whisk until the yeast dissolves. 

Using a rubber spatula, stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture until the dough comes together. The dough will be a bit sticky, but transfer it to a lightly floured work surface and knead it until the dough forms a smooth, round ball.

Add a little more flour to the work surface and then roll the dough out into a rectangle that’s about ½ inch thick. The size of the rectangle isn’t super important, you mostly just want the pieces to be about the same size. Use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter to cut the dough into a grid, with each piece being about 1-inch in size. Once all of the pieces are cut out, roll them into balls.

Once you make the dough balls, you’ll need to dip them in the butter and sugar mixture so that they can proof. First, use a pastry brush and some of the melted butter to grease the bundt pan. You should only need a couple tablespoons of the butter. Reserve the rest of the 10 tablespoons of butter for dipping the dough balls.

Dip the dough balls in the melted butter and then in the sugar mixture. Roll them around in it until they’re fully covered. Place the sugar coated balls into the bundt pan, spreading them out into an even layer. Cover the bundt pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. 

While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 350 F and make the caramel sauce. For the caramel sauce, combine the water, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir the mixture until the sugar is dissolved and then bring it to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until the mixture is medium amber colored, about 6 minutes. Gently shake or swirl the pan as needed. 

Stirring constantly, pour in about ⅓ of the cream. The mixture will bubble. Once the bubbles have subsided, stir in another ⅓ of the cream. After the bubbles subside, stir in the remaining cream. Reduce the heat to medium low and stir constantly until the cream is incorporated, about 3 minutes. Transfer the caramel a heat-safe bowl or measuring cup and let it cool to a warm room temperature. 

Once the dough has rested, bake the monkey bread for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding the monkey bread onto a serving plate. Serve warm with a drizzle of caramel sauce!

Abu's Chai Spiced Monkey Bread with caramel sauce

Enjoy Abu’s Chai Spiced Monkey Bread!

If you’re looking for more chai treats, be sure to check out my Pumpkin Chai Mickey Cookies and Caramel Pecan Chai Latte!

Abu's Chai Spiced Monkey Bread with caramel sauce
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Abu’s Chai Spiced Monkey Bread

Inspired by Aladdin’s feisty sidekick, Abu’s Chai Spiced Monkey Bread is a sweet and spicy treat that pairs perfectly with homemade caramel sauce!
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Keyword Aladdin, Chai, Fall
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Rest Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

Monkey Bread Dough

  • 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 ¼ cups whole milk, warmed (110 F)
  • 4 teaspoons instant yeast
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Chai Spice Sugar

  • ⅔ cup granulated sugar
  • 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for greasing the pan and dipping the dough balls

Caramel Sauce

  • ½ cup water
  • 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup heavy cream

Equipment

  • 1 12-cup bundt pan
  • pastry brush

Instructions

Chai Spiced Sugar

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, cardamom, and ground cloves.
  2. Set aside until you’re ready to assemble the monkey bread.

Monkey Bread Dough

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, yeast, butter, and sugar and whisk until the yeast dissolves.
  3. Using a rubber spatula, stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture until the dough comes together (it will be sticky).
  4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead it until the dough forms a smooth, round ball (about 2 minutes).
  5. Roll the dough out into a rectangle that’s about ½ inch thick.
  6. Cut the dough into a grid, with each piece being about 1 inch in size.
  7. Roll the dough pieces into balls by gathering the four corners and rolling it in your hands.

Assembly

  1. Dip the pastry brush into the 10 tablespoons of melted butter and use some of it to grease the bundt pan. You should only need a couple tablespoons of the butter. Reserve the rest of the butter for dipping the dough balls.
  2. Dip the dough balls into the melted butter and then into the sugar mixture, rolling them around until they’re fully covered. Place the sugar coated balls into the bundt pan, spreading them out into an even layer.
  3. Cover the bundt pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
  4. While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 350 F and make the caramel sauce.
  5. Bake the monkey bread for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
  6. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before unmolding the monkey bread onto a serving plate.
  7. Serve warm with a drizzle of caramel sauce.

Caramel Sauce

  1. Combine the water, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then bring the mixture to a boil.
  3. Cook, without stirring, until the mixture is medium amber colored, about 6 minutes. Gently shake or swirl the pan as needed.
  4. Stirring constantly, pour in about ⅓ of the cream. The mixture will bubble. Once the bubbles have subsided, stir in another ⅓ of the cream. After the bubbles subside, stir in the remaining cream.
  5. Reduce the heat to medium low and stir constantly until the cream is incorporated, about 3 minutes.
  6. Transfer to a heat-safe bowl and let cool to a warm room temperature.
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