Click below to listen to this post about a fall-inspired sweet bread on the Candidly Kendra podcast:

Here’s the thing, you guys…

I can’t get over this sweet bread recipe.

It is so good it’s ridiculous. If I’ve talked to you in the past week, I’ve told you about this bread. If I had a quiet moment to myself, I’ve thought about this bread.

When we shared the highlight of our week in the college group Bible study, I talked about this bread.

And…brace yourselves…

I’m going to share the recipe with you!

Because I love you and I love this bread and I like to introduce my loved ones to each other.

Here’s what you have to look forward to: This is a cinnamon-swirled sweet bread, soaked in buttery maple sauce, and topped (completely unnecessarily) with a luscious amaretto-spiked cream cheese frosting.

Call it breakfast, or call it dessert, but please do yourself a solid and make this.

maple butter sweet bread with amaretto cream cheese frosting

I made it with a homemade sweet yeast dough, but it would be absolutely worth it to simplify and use a pre-made dough if that’ll get you to make it. The magic is in the maple-butter sauce and the amaretto cream cheese frosting, anyways.

I’ll include the cheater instructions in the notes at the end of the recipe.

The Maple Butter Monkey Bread with Amaretto Cream Cheese Frosting Digest:

Start by making your sweet bread dough. (If you tempted to quit now, you can use 3 small cans of dinner rolls that come packaged in the refrigerated section of the store. Then just jump ahead to this.)
In the bowl of a mixer, combine four cups of flour and a package of rapid rise yeast. Add 1 egg and 1 egg yolk, but don’t stir. In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup water, 1 cup milk, 1/3 cup butter, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/2 tsp. salt. Microwave the milk mixture for 1 minute on high, until it is very warm to the touch, but doesn’t burn you . Add this mixture to the flour and eggs, and then stir everything. Using the kneading hook on the mixer, knead the dough on medium-low power for a couple minutes until the dough comes together into a smooth ball. Add a little more flour, as necessary. I added about 1/2 cup flour to get the right consistency.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour, until nearly doubled in size. (I preheat my oven for 1 minute and then turn it off. I then “rise” the dough in my oven.)

(Continue here if using prepackaged dough.) In a small bowl, melt 3 tbsp. butter. In another bowl, combine 1 cup packed brown sugar and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Cut the dough into pices about the size of a golf ball. Dip in melted butter, and then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Lay half the dough pieces in a greased 10-inch tube (Bundt^TM) pan.
Combine 2/3 cup maple syrup with 2 tbsp. melted butter. (You can use pancake syrup with good results.) Pour half of this mixture over the dough in the tube pan.
Continue dipped the rest of the dough and placing in the tube pan. Top with the remaining mapple-butter sauce.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise in a warm place until it is puffed up, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, and then flip over onto a large plate.

For the Amaretto Cream Cheese Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine 3 cups powdered sugar, 4 ounces softened cream cheese, 1/4 cup softened butter, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, and 2 tsp. amaretto liqueur. Beat it with a mixer until it’s smooth and creamy. Swoon and die. Also, put this frosting on everything: cinnamon rolls, pumpkin pancakes, waffles, graham crackers, carrot cake,…

Here’s the recipe! I hope you love it as much as I do!

Print Recipe

Maple-Butter Monkey Bread with Amaretto Cream Cheese Frosting

This monkey bread is soaked in a maple-butter sauce and then pushed up to blue-ribbon status with this luscious amaretto cream cheese frosting!

Prep Time1 45

Cook Time35

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Brunch

Keyword: Coffee Cake, Yeast Breads

Servings: 16 people

Ingredients

4-5 cups flour
1 pkg rapid rise yeast (or 2¼ tsp. instant yeast)
1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1/4 cup water
1 cup milk
⅓ cup butter
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
⅔ cup maple syrup (or pancake syrup)
2 tbsp butter, melted

For the Amaretto Cream Cheese Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
2 tsp. amaretto liqueur
½ tsp. vanilla

Instructions

For the Dough:*

In a large bowl, mix 4 cups flour with yeast. Add eggs, but don't mix.
In a microwave-safe bowl, combine water, milk, butter, sugar, and salt. Microwave on high for 1 minute, until it is very warm, but not so hot that it burns you to the touch. Add the milk mixture to the flour and the eggs, and stir to combine a little.
In a mixer, using the kneading hook, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes on medium-low, until it forms a smooth ball in the bowl. If it is too sticky or runny, add a little flour. (I typically add ½ cup flour.)
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until nearly doubled in size.

Shaping and Baking

Meanwhile, combine maple syrup and 2 tbsp. melted butter.
Put 3 tbsp. melted butter into a small bowl. In another bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut the dough into golfball-sized pieces. Dip in butter, then in cinnamon-sugar. Place half in a greased 10-inch fluted tube pan. Top with half the maple-butter sauce. Repeat with remaining dough and remaining maple-butter sauce.
Cover and let the dough rise again until puffy (20-30 minutes). Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°
Uncover and bake for 35 minutes until golden-brown on top and cooked through. Cool for 10 minutes and then flip onto a large plate. Top with Amaretto Cream Cheese Frosting before serving.