Recipe: Monkey bread muffins for a friend.

A close friend of mine is going through a tough time right now. Her brother was in a terrible accident and is in the hospital, and I wanted to make a gesture to show her that I was thinking of her and also to ease some of her burden. I was going to fix up a casserole or something of that sort but she is spending so much time at the hospital I wouldn't know when to drop it off. I realized that the best thing I could make would be something that's safe to sit on the doorstep without needing refrigeration or immediate cooking. I found this recipe for monkey-bread muffins that seemed to be just perfect. They sounded delicious and it's a quick and easy thing that she can grab and go and would be safe sitting on her doorstep for a while if she didn't return home until late.

Because they are so simple to make and so incredibly delicious, I am going to share the step-by-step here for you :)

First, gather up all the ingredients.

You will need:

1 tsp apple pie spice (if you don't have apple pie spice on hand, you can use the following substitution: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1/8 cardamom or ginger)
1/4 cup white sugar
1 can refrigerated biscuit dough (12 oz or 5 biscuits)
1/2 c brown sugar
3 tbsps butter
1 t water

Preheat your oven to 375º.

In the meantime, grease or butter a muffin pan. I don't suggest using liners because they will get messy and sticky in the next few steps.

Cut your biscuits each into 6 pieces.

Combine your apple pie spice (or, like me, the cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, & ginger combo) in a bowl and mix in the white sugar.

Next, roll each piece of the biscuit dough in the sugar mixture until coated.

Place your coated biscuit pieces into the muffin pan evenly for however many biscuits you want. I put 5 pieces in each cup to make 6 even sized biscuits.

Combine the butter, water, and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat until bubbling, stirring constantly.

Drizzle the brown sugar mixture over your biscuits. Some of it will run down and pool at the bottom, so I chose to save about half of the mixture to pour on after they were finished baking as well.

Bake in the preheated oven for 8-12 minutes until golden brown and the tops spring back when lightly pressed. I baked mine for the full 12 minutes because I wanted the top just a little bit crispy. After they were out of the oven, I drizzled the remaining brown sugar mixture over the top.

Once they had mostly cooled, I removed each muffin from the pan and dipped the bottom into the remaining white sugar/spice mixture (the bottom was sticky and gooey from the brown sugar mix), and placed on a piece of waxed paper. I didn't have a basket or anything very pretty to dress these up in, so I just sat them in a round cake pan on top of waxed paper and wrapped the whole thing with cellophane and a ribbon. The only sad part is that I didn't make enough to have some for myself!