Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread Muffins

Thank goodness it's the end of the week. 

What's this you say? End of the week? But it's only Thursday?! 

Mr B and I are jumping ship early this week as it's our 5 year anniversary. Yep 5 whole years! 

The ladies I work with spoilt us with a voucher for a beautiful weekend away as a wedding gift so we are setting off nice and early tomorrow, after a sleep in and a pancake breakfast of course! Although Mr B has made a point of telling me several times a day this week that you only get 10 years for murder so I'm undecided if he is coming just yet - but then I think if I left Mr B at home and went on my own, who would get me a cup of tea in bed or a whiskey and lemonade while I soak in the spa? 

So while we are away soaking up some relaxation and some luxury this weekend, may I suggest you whip up your own piece of heaven? Turn your favourite music up, sing along, bust out some moves, bake these gorgeous cinnamon roll monkey bread muffins, have one hot out of the oven with a cup of tea while you curl up in the sun or in a big warm comfy bed with a good book and just enjoy!

Now when I started to make this recipe last weekend I intended to make Cinnamon Roll Muffins, but then half way through I kind of changed my mind to Monkey Bread so they have ended up as a cross between the two....hence the Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread Muffins!

For the coating you will need:

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 tspn ground cinnamon
For the dough you will need:

1 cup room temperature buttermilk
1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup tightly packed, brown sugar 

1 tspn bicarb soda

1/2 tspn salt

1/2 tspn vanilla extract

3 cups plain flour (plus extra for dusting)

For the topping you will need

80g butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 tspn ground cinnamon
For the icing you will need:

1 cup icing sugar

2-3 tbspns milk 

Pre-heat oven to 160C and grease a normal 12 hole muffin tin. 

Combine the coating ingredients in a bowl and set aside. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the dough hooks, combine the buttermilk, egg,  brown sugar, bicarb soda, salt and vanilla. Add the flour and mix all the ingredients together on a low speed  until just combined - try not to over mix. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour in 1/4 cup measurements until it comes together and is easy to manipulate.

Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a good minute.  Grab your rolling pin and roll the dough into a rectangle. Don't be too fussed on the size and shape though.  

Cut the dough into 1cm cubes and drop into the bowl with the coating. Toss it all around so that the cubes are well coated in the cinnamon sugar mix. Evenly divide the cubes between your muffin cups. 

Combine the topping ingredients in a microwave safe jug and heat in 30 second bursts until butter is melted, sugar is dissolved and everything is combined. Spoon tablespoons of the mixture over the dough. Don't worry if you don't use it all because we will use it later on in the recipe. The topping mix will bubble up during cooking and the dough will spread out so don't over fill the cups too much. Place a baking tray underneath them during cooking just incase....Mr B can attest to that as he has spent the last 2 nights scrubbing burnt sugar from the bottom of our oven! 

Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to rest in the pan for about 5 minutes. Now at this stage I poured my remaining topping mix into an oven dish and placed the muffins upside down in it so that the tops would have a chance to soak some of the gooey cinnamon goodness up. I popped them back in the oven for maybe 5-8 mins. When you get them out, allow them to cool slightly before removing to a rack and leaving them to cool completely. This will be hard because you will want to pick bits off them - hell go for it if you want to because let's be honest they are damn awesome at this stage....but save at least one for adding the icing to because I know it's hard to believe but they are even more awesome with that! 

Now for the icing combine the icing sugar and milk in a jug or small bowl and mix until smooth. If it looks too thick, add a little more milk until it thins out enough to use as a glaze. Dip a small spoon or fork into the icing and just have fun drizzling it over the muffins or if the mood takes you, just pick a whole one up and dip it straight in there! But most importantly, enjoy them!

Mrs B xx