What’s Cooking in Kelli’s Kitchen: Something Like My Mom’s Monkey Bread

Last week, I flew from Reno to New York City to surprise my mom, Penny Valentine-Faith, for her 75th birthday while she was visiting my sister, my brother-in-law, and the grandbabies. The flight was the easy part.

My mom has always believed that showing up for your community is just what you do. She learned that from her own parents, and it was never presented to us as an extracurricular activity. It was a baseline expectation. When my sister and I were growing up in Orange, California, volunteering was simply part of the family calendar. Church projects. Weekends at a thrift store in the Orange Circle. You helped sort. You helped stock. You helped clean. You learned that communities are held together by ordinary people doing small things on purpose.

At the same time, my mom worked full-time my entire childhood in special education, first at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside and later as a Director of Special Education for several school districts, ensuring that students with disabilities received the services to which they were entitled.

Despite all of that, she still found ways to make our childhood feel textured and specific. She hand-stitched rhinestones onto my sister’s baton costumes. She shepherded me through the tunnels of the Los Angeles Forum, so I could serve as a ball kid for professional tennis matches. She made extravagant holiday meals. Herb bread at Thanksgiving. Monkey bread on Christmas morning. These were not grand gestures. They were quiet decisions repeated over time.

These days, my mom is working, running a business with her wife, volunteering in the community, and still finding ways to make life feel textured and special for my sister and me and for her grandsons. This year, though, we baked a cake for her.

When I boarded a flight last week to surprise my mom on the other side of the country, it felt less like a big gesture and more like a familiar one.

In our family, that instinct to show up has often taken the form of flour on the counter and cinnamon on our hands. So, in honor of my mom’s 75th birthday, I am sharing the monkey bread recipe that has anchored our Christmas mornings for as long as I can remember. Some traditions are complicated. This one is just sticky enough to keep everyone at the table a little longer.

Something Like My Mom’s Monkey Bread

INGREDIENTS:

For the pan:

2 tablespoons softened butter

Dough:

2 T melted butter

1 c warm milk 

⅓ c warm water

¼ c granulated sugar

2 ¼ t instant yeast

3 ¼ c all-purpose flour

2 t salt

Brown Sugar Coating:

1 c packed light brown sugar

2 t ground cinnamon

½ c butter, melted

Glaze:

1 c powdered sugar

2 T milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large measuring cup, combine the milk, water, melted butter, sugar, and yeast.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the flour and salt. With the mixer on low, pour in the milk mixture. Increase to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth, 5 to 7 minutes, adding a little flour if needed to prevent sticking.
3. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.
4. Butter a 12-cup Bundt pan and set aside.
5. Punch down the dough and press into an 8-inch square on a lightly floured surface. Cut into about 64 small pieces and roll into balls.
6. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Dip each dough ball in melted butter, then roll in the sugar mixture and place in the prepared pan, staggering the layers.
7. Cover and let rise again until puffy, 1 to 2 hours.
8. Bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown.
9. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a platter.
10. Whisk together the powdered sugar and milk and drizzle over the warm bread.

** Make-Ahead Instructions: After assembling in the pan, cover and refrigerate up to 18 hours. Remove from the refrigerator about 2 hours before baking and let rise until puffy, then bake as directed.