Monkey Bread in a Jar
Ingredients:
12 tbsp butter
1 cup milk, heated to about 110 degrees F
1/3 cup water, heated to about 110 degrees F
1/4 cup sugar
1 (1/4th oz) package dry active yeast
3 cups flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Directions:
Combine the warm milk, water, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl. Let sit for five minutes. Be sure here that your water and milk are not TOO hot (temperature should feel like warm bath water). Liquid that is too hot will kill the yeast!
Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, salt and cardamom together in another bowl. After five minutes, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on medium high speed using a dough hook attachment for about eight minutes, or until dough becomes a smooth ball. Alternately, you can do this by hand. Just keep kneading the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic.
Spray a bowl with cooking spray and place your dough ball inside. Cover with a dish towel or plastic wrap and set in a warm spot to rise for about an hour. You want the ball to double in size. (I let my dough rise for 1.5 hours since my house was a little cool that morning).
After the initial rise, roll out dough to a large rectangle. Using a kitchen scissors, cut one inch squares of dough out of the rectangle.
Melt four tablespoons of the butter and use it to grease eight 8-oz glass jars (OR four 12-oz mason jars).
Melt the remaining butter and pour it into a small bowl. In another small bowl, mix together the brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Dunk each square of dough in the melted butter and then into the brown sugar. Drop it into a greased glass jar. Fill each jar only half way full then set the jars in a warm spot to rise for another 50 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place jars on a baking sheet two inches apart and bake for 25 minutes, or until dough has cooked through. Serve warm!
Time: 2.5 hours
