A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Created by Chef Remy
Tender pieces of cinnamon-sugar dough baked in a cascade of buttery brown sugar and Louisiana cane syrup, studded with toasted pecans and drizzled with cream cheese glaze, meant to be torn apart and shared by the handful.
Monkey bread is honesty on a plate. There's nothing fussy about it, nothing precious. You tear off a piece with your fingers, the caramel stretches in sticky threads, and you eat it standing at the counter while it's still warm. That's exactly how food should be.
My grandmother Evangeline made this every Christmas morning in her bundt pan that had seen fifty years of holiday baking. She used canned biscuits without apology because she understood something important: the magic lives in the sauce, not the dough. That brown sugar and butter mixture caramelizes against the pan, creating a sticky, irresistible coating that makes grown adults act like children fighting over the last piece.
I've added Louisiana cane syrup to her original recipe. It brings a depth of flavor that regular corn syrup cannot match, a hint of molasses and something earthy that belongs in this dish. The pecans are non-negotiable in my kitchen. They toast in the oven and become part of that caramelized crust, adding crunch to all that tender sweetness. At Lagniappe, we serve this for Sunday brunch, and people arrive early just to get a piece while it's still warm.
Quantity
4 cans (7.5 oz each)
Quantity
1 cup (200g)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
Quantity
1 cup (2 sticks/226g)
Quantity
1 cup (220g)
packed
Quantity
1/4 cup
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
1 cup (120g)
roughly chopped
Quantity
4 ounces
softened
Quantity
1 cup (120g)
sifted
Quantity
2-3 tablespoons
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| refrigerated buttermilk biscuits | 4 cans (7.5 oz each) |
| granulated sugar | 1 cup (200g) |
| ground cinnamon | 2 tablespoons |
| freshly grated nutmeg | 1/2 teaspoon |
| ground allspice | 1/4 teaspoon |
| unsalted butter | 1 cup (2 sticks/226g) |
| dark brown sugarpacked | 1 cup (220g) |
| Louisiana cane syrup | 1/4 cup |
| pure vanilla extract | 1 teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| toasted pecansroughly chopped | 1 cup (120g) |
| cream cheesesoftened | 4 ounces |
| powdered sugarsifted | 1 cup (120g) |
| whole milk | 2-3 tablespoons |
| vanilla extract (for glaze) | 1/2 teaspoon |
Generously butter every curve and crevice of a 10 to 12 cup bundt pan. I mean generous, cher. The butter creates that gorgeous caramelized crust and ensures your masterpiece releases clean. Scatter half of the toasted pecans into the bottom of the prepared pan. They'll become the crown when you flip it out.
Whisk together the granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice in a large bowl. This is your coating, and it needs to be well blended so every piece of dough gets the same warm spice treatment. Give it a sniff. That's the smell of Christmas morning at my grandmother Evangeline's house in Lafayette.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once it foams and the foam subsides, add the dark brown sugar, cane syrup, vanilla, and salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves completely and the mixture is smooth and glossy, about two minutes. Remove from heat. This sauce is liquid gold, the sticky magic that holds everything together and caramelizes into that irresistible coating.
Open your biscuits and separate them. Cut each biscuit into quarters using kitchen shears or a sharp knife. Working in batches, toss the dough pieces in the cinnamon sugar mixture until completely coated. Shake off the excess. You want each piece well covered but not clumping together.
Arrange half of the coated dough pieces in the prepared bundt pan, scattering them somewhat evenly over the pecans. Drizzle half of the warm brown sugar sauce over the dough. Scatter the remaining pecans. Add the rest of the dough pieces and pour the remaining sauce over everything. Let the sauce find its way into all the gaps and crevices.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the top is deep golden brown and the sauce is bubbling up around the edges. The smell will pull everyone into the kitchen. That's how you know it's close. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out without raw dough clinging to it.
Let the monkey bread rest in the pan for exactly five minutes. Not three, not ten. Five. This allows the caramel to set just enough to cling to the bread but stay fluid enough to cascade down when you flip. Place a serving plate over the pan, take a deep breath, and flip with confidence. Lift the pan straight up. The bread should release with all that pecan-studded caramel glory dripping down.
While the bread cools slightly, beat the softened cream cheese with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the vanilla and enough milk to reach a thick but drizzleable consistency. It should ribbon off your spoon but hold its shape for a moment before sinking into the bread.
Drizzle the cream cheese glaze over the warm monkey bread in lazy stripes. Let it pool in the crevices and run down the sides. Serve immediately while still warm, inviting everyone to tear off pieces with their hands. That's the bayou way. No forks required. No manners enforced. Just good food shared with people you love.
1 serving (about 150g)
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary Explorer
Chef Remy
Golden pillows of fried choux dough with ridged edges that shatter on contact, rolled in cinnamon-cayenne sugar and dunked into a bittersweet chicory chocolate sauce that tastes like New Orleans in a cup.
Chef Remy
A free-form tart that forgives every wrinkle and fold, filled with bourbon-kissed blackberries that bubble into jam at the edges and hold their shape in the center, all wrapped in the flakiest butter pastry you'll ever make.
Chef Remy
Dense, butterscotch-scented bars made with deeply nutty brown butter, good Kentucky bourbon, and toasted Louisiana pecans, finished with a boozy glaze that pools into every crack and crevice.
Chef Remy
Buttery laminated dough spiraled with bourbon-kissed pecans and dark brown sugar, inverted from the pan with a sticky caramel crown that makes your whole kitchen smell like Sunday morning in New Orleans.