August 01, 2011

Savory Herb Monkey Bread

It's been a wonderful few weeks at home with Baby B.  One of the lovely blessings we have had the opportunity to experience is the gift of hospitality and food.  Many friends have spoiled us just rotten by dropping dinner by so that we can adjust to our new baby routine without the fuss of having to prepare dinner.  While I absolutely love the chance to taste some of my wonderful friends' home cookin ... I've missed having the time and energy to cook and such myself. 

And so ... yesterday in the midst of a home renovation project (more on that later this week), I asked the fam to come over for a visit and dinner with Baby B.  Of course, you don't have to ask my lovely fam twice to spend time with Baby B, so they were over lickity split!  It felt so good to get back in the kitchen and we dined on flat iron steak and chicken, corn on the cob and a summer veggie saute.  It was all delish, but the menu item that had the fam swooning was the savory monkey bread.  It was a new recipe take on an old sweet favorite and it was a HIT!  The recipe came straight from my favorite lady, Paula Deen, and appeared on her show (which I love catching up on while I'm home!). 



Herb Monkey Bread
Ingredients

1 stick butter melted, plus 1/4 cup melted butter, plus more for pan
1 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for sprinkling
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
2 packages biscuits

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 12-cup Bundt pan; set aside.
2.  In a small bowl, combine cheese and Italian seasoning.
3.  Roll each individual biscuit into a ball. Dip each piece in the 1 stick of melted butter, then coat with the cheese mixture.
4.  Place dough into prepared pan; overlapping will occur. Bake bread, 30 to 35 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil during the last 10 minutes of baking to prevent excess browning, if needed.
5.  Let cool in pan, 10 minutes; invert bread onto a serving plate. Drizzle remaining 1/4 cup melted butter on top and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

I actually used 4 cans of the 7.5 oz size biscuits and pinched each biscuit in half to make more pieces in my bread.  You may also want to use more of the good stuff; cheese, butter and herbs, to make it even more tasty!  We all agreed that this not only makes a nice complimentary dish for dinner, but could make a great appetizer if served warm with marinara (pizza bread, ya'll!).

So as an app or with your meal, ya'll be sure to give this one a whirl!