Orange Jalapeño and Pepita Monkey Bread

Orange-Jalapeño Monkey Bread with Pepitas is a fun treat that has an unexpected—and fabulous—flavor. It is the perfect thing to serve at a weekend brunch or when you have friends coming by. Or just go ahead and make it whenever you’re looking for a reason to enjoy a fun treat.

I might be the last one to the monkey bread party, but I finally made it, and boy am I glad. You’ve probably seen many versions of this pull-apart sweet bread made using cinnamon and nuts and a sticky, wonderful glaze (I know, right!), and while I love those choices, I thought I’d try something a little different.

We love orange marmalade in my house, and since I seem to have an endless supply of it in my pantry, I thought I’d somehow put it to use with this dessert. It’s sweet, but not too sweet, and perfect for other things besides toast.

I thought adding jalapeños to this dessert would be fun, and make a tasty combination with the marmalade. I was right. Toss in some crunchy, toasted pepitas, and you have a monkey bread winner.

After all the holiday baking and cooking, I wanted to make this dessert easy on myself so I used prepackaged biscuit rolls as the dough. It works perfectly well and frees up your prep time, for sure.

See Also

Buckwheat Apple Galettes Topped with Cardamom Crumble

Pulling apart this treat is part of the fun (barrel full of monkeys and all), and you’ll definitely need a few napkins on hand if that’s how you’ll serve it. We did a little pulling apart, specifically when it was warm and just out of the oven. It was pretty hard to resist its shimmery, sweet orange glaze and warm doughy pieces.

Have you made monkey bread? I hope you’ll give this recipe for Orange-Jalapeño Monkey Bread with Pepitas a go. You’ll love its unexpected flavors!

Orange Jalapeño and Pepita Monkey Bread

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Orange-Jalapeño Monkey Bread with Pepitas is a fun treat that has an unexpected—and fabulous—flavor. It is the perfect thing to serve at a weekend brunch or when you have friends coming by. Or just go ahead and make it whenever you’re looking for a reason to enjoy a fun treat.

• Author: Patricia Conte
• Yield: 1 Bread 1x
• Category: Appetizer

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 16-ounce containers canned biscuit dough
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Zest of one large orange
• 1/2 cup butter (melted)
• 6 tablespoons orange marmalade
• 6 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 tablespoons diced jalapeños
• 1/4 cup pepitas (toasted)
• Nonstick cooking spray

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly coat a Bunt cake pan with nonstick cooing spray, and add a few pepitas around the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
2. Combine the melted butter, orange marmalade, and orange juice in a bowl and whisk to combine. This will be a slightly thick mixture. Set aside (whisk again before pouring).
3. Add the sugar and orange zest to a large zippered plastic bag.
4. Cut the biscuit rounds into quarters and place in the plastic bag with the sugar and zest. Seal the bag and gently shake it so the sugar coats all the pieces.
5. Add a layer of the biscuit pieces to the cake pan and sprinkle with some of the jalapeños and the pepitas. Repeat to have three layers.
6. Evenly pour the liquid mixture over the layers in the pan.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the dough is cooked through (you can check with a knife inserted into the center). When there is about 15 minutes left to bake, check the bread. Cover it with aluminum foil if it looks like the top of the bread is getting too brown.
8. Remove from the oven and let the bread stand for 5-10 minutes, then carefully invert it onto a serving plate.
9. Serve immediately.