Homemade Monkey Bread with Homemade Caramel Sauce

So as I stated in a previous post  I recently made some homemade monkey bread. And this bread comes with homemade caramel sauce. In case I haven't mentioned before I LOVE CARAMEL!! Like I really do love it! So sugar, cinnamon, bread, and caramel...this was a perfect recipe for me to try. I found the recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction. She has a ton of great pics of the bread she made. It sucked me in..I went to the store that afternoon and bought the ingredients I didn't have and got started! It is important to note that you have to make the dough ahead of time and let it rise overnight so take that into consideration when making this delicious gem! Here is the recipe and my results.

Final Product

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 package (2 and 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast 
• 1/4 cup warm water (110F-115F)
• 1 and 1/4 cups warm 2% milk (110F-115F, 2% or higher milk fat, no lower)
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
Easy Caramel Sauce
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 3 Tablespoons heavy cream (no substitutions)

 Cinnamon-Sugar Topping

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 - 1.5 Tablespoons ground cinnamon (depends on taste, I used 1.5)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans (I didn't use these)

For the Caramel Sauce 

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (or salted)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons heavy cream (no substitutions)

 

Instructions

1. Make the dough: In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir it around a bit and let it sit for about 2 minutes. Add the milk, melted butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and 3 cups of flour, Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. By hand, stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. About 5 cups total.*Side Note: This was my first time using my standing mixer and I chose to ignore the advise to stir in flour by hand...I regret that choice...FYI*
2. Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-7 minutes. Do not over-knead, which will lend tough and chewy bread. The dough is ready when it is smooth and when you can poke it with a finger and it springs back. Form dough into a smooth ball and place into a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. I greased the bowl with cooking spray. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
3. Make the caramel sauce: The caramel sauce may be made ahead of time and heated in the microwave for 30 seconds before using. To make the caramel, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Once melted, add brown sugar and heavy cream. Stir constantly over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Allow to bubble for 3-4 full minutes, no more. Set aside.
4. Make the cinnamon-sugar topping: In a shallow bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar. In a separate small bowl, melt the butter. Set aside. Spray a 10-12 cup bundt pan with cooking spray. Set aside. Punch the cold dough down very gently to allow the air bubbles to release. Pull apart pieces and roll into balls, about 1.25 inches in diameter. You will need 40-45 balls total, so be modest with their size. Dip each ball, one by one, in the melted butter and then generously roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat them well. You may need more cinnamon-sugar depending how heavy you coat each bowl.
5. Arrange 20 dough balls into the bundt pan.  Cover the pan and allow dough balls to rise again for about 45 minutes at room temperature.
6. Preheat oven to 350F. When you are ready to bake, warm the caramel sauce up for about 30 seconds. Stir, and top the dough balls with 1/2 of the caramel sauce. Reserve the rest to pour on top after it is baked.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top. Cover loosely with foil if the top browns too quickly. Cool for 5-10 minutes and invert onto a large serving plate. Warm up the caramel sauce again and drizzle over the bread. You may either cut the bread into generous slices or let everyone pick off the gooey pieces themselves.

In my handy-dandy standing mixer

Going into the fridge

Morning After...after being punched down

My balls of dough!!

Butter and cinnamon sugar mixture

Dough balls after being coated and taking time to rise

Fresh out of the oven...I just had to taste some of the bread!!

My thoughts and Opinions: I love this recipe!! I love the bread!! It was soo yummy! The only thing I would differently was use a different recipe for caramel. I will probably use a recipe from my Southern Caramel Cake post. But over all I would definitely encourage any and everyone to try it!!

Enjoy!!

 

Monkey Bread!!! 

Paleo (Gluten Free) Blueberry Muffins

So while on my first week of being strictly Paleo I was having serious withdraw from bread and all I wanted was some blueberry muffins! So I went on pinterest and found some paleo blueberry muffins recipes. I decided to go with a recipe from Paleoliscious. It is an interesting blog so you should check it out. Here are my results and the recipe for the blueberry muffins.

Paleo Blueberry muffins

Ingredients: 
3 cups almond meal
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 cups blueberries
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

 It was my first time using almond flour and coconut oil.I have seen them a lot in healthy/paleo recipes but have yet to use them so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to try something new.

Directions:
*Preheat oven at 347 F *

1. Beat the eggs in a bowl  

2. Add the vanilla extract, honey, lemon juice and coconut oil. Mix well. 

3. Add the almond meal and bicarbonate of soda and mix well. 

4. Add the blueberries and mix gently. 

5. Baked them for approx. 15 min

Fresh out of the oven

Paleo/Gluten Free Blueberry Muffin 

 So there you have it...Paleo Blueberry Muffins!!! I thought the recipe was easy to follow and quick to make. Now as far as the taste of the muffins I would say if you are used to paleo food you will probably love them! But I was not ready, LOL. I love box mix blueberry muffins filled with sugar and all kinds of extra ingredients. So with that being sad I hated them the first time I tried them. BUT the next day I went back and tried them and really enjoyed them! Once I was ready for a less sweet treat it was fabulous!! If you need a quick fix for a bread craving I would defiantly recommend these muffins. 

Enjoy!!

Reality Check: Paleo, Isopure, Blunt Truth

Hello Everyone!!!

It's been almost a month since I've updated you all on my progress in life. Well first let's start with how my workouts have been going. I have tried the Paleo diet and yes it definitely works. I followed it fairly strictly for a week and lost 7 lbs. I was really excited about the change! I stuck with the diet for the following week too and was really happy with how consistently I was losing weight. Then springbreak came and some homemade monkey bread. (Side note: In case you don't know what monkey bread is it is a pull apart bread with dough balls covered in cinnamon sugar and the entire cake is covered in homemade caramel sauce. A recipe will be up soon.) Well that didn't go well...and then I found myself eating out a lot that week. So as I fell off the wagon and the wagon rode away at an alarming speed I began to devise a plan that would help me get back on again.

I decided the paleo diet is great but a little too extreme to start out with so I decided to become Paleo-ish for now and maybe full paleo sometime in the future. So my basic diet plan is no dairy, no grains, legumes, and very little artificial sugar. I will include beans because I love them! And I will include some desserts because I love them and completely depriving myself will only lead to a binge. In all I am 15 lbs down since January.

Also I love my Ispoure!!! I think it has works amazing! It keeps me full and the dutch chocolate tastes like a cold glass of chocolate milk. I have also included PB2 with chocolate into my diet. It's powered peanut butter with 85% less fat than regular peanut butter. It comes in a powder form, you just mix it with water and go! LOVES IT!!!

Last but not least I met with a trainer at my gym today to discuss my goals and what I'm doing to get there. I didn't seek out this information but a trainer came up to me and started a conversation and the next thing I knew I had a meeting to discuss all kinds of fitness things. So I went and told him with my goals and plans are...he low key laughed. Then he proceed to tell me why things aren't working like I would like them to be working. My current workout regiment is lifting class for 60 mins twice a week, cardio 3-4 times a week for 90 mins. Now let me say I love my weight lifting class (bar, plates, lunges, push ups, abs, clean and presses, ect) and in the month that I've been back at it I have noticed my muscle definition forming in my legs. But this trainer said my downfall is too much cardio. He gave a long explanation that I would love to give to you all but it was a lot to process. He said my cardio should be 45 minutes max (but more like 15-30). Which definitely explains why no one else is in the gym as long as I am LOL. Also I need to be in my target heart rate...oops. He said the way I'm training now is more for a long distance trainer as opposed to someone wanting to tone. Now some of the reason I do so much cardio is because I like listening to my music and clearing my mind. Please let me know if you have any additional thoughts on the advice he gave. I'd love to hear all points of view.

So, I plan to implement my new paleo-ish diet, with my isopure and PB2 with fruit. I will also be switching up my workout to lifting Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays with cardio Tuesdays, Thursdays, and maybe Saturday or Sunday (not both). I am also considering yoga as a part of my plan. I've seen a lot of pictures on instagram (follow me at fabgirlnikki) of regular yoga, acro yoga, and partner yoga. I'm intrigued. I don't know how to get started but I hope to figure it out soon.  I will be updating you all on how it all goes.

Talk to you all soon!

P.S. That was a lot...clearly I need to blog more often. LOL