Baking for a Cause - Monkey Bread!

So in an effort to be a good person, who gives back to the community, I frequently volunteer (when I can and when I'm at home) with my parents' Lions Club. Truth be told, I'm actually a member, and one of the youngest at that. Twice a year, the Lions have a breakfast and bake sale for the community to raise funds for scholarships for local seniors. For the past few years, I have been put in charge of the bake sale, mainly because no one else wants to run it and also because I'm the only one who's been able to make a significant profit. I enjoy it though - mainly because my mom and I bake up a storm the day before and I get to give back by doing what I love, engaging my inner-Betty Crocker.

The next breakfast is in two weeks and once again I'll be reprising my role as bake sale leader. I try to come up with new items to bake. In November, I made mini cheesecakes and they flew off the racks. Some of the staples that tend to sell really well include: Tandy cake (peanut butter/chocolate/vanilla cake), blueberry cake, apple turnovers (I make them every year), apple pie, and cookies. With a couple weeks to go, I'm making my list of items to bake this year, which includes: mini strawberry cheesecakes, peanut butter cookies, apple pie, AND mini monkey bread muffins!

I tested the mini monkey bread muffins last night and thought I'd share the recipe with you all - it's incredibly simple, and incredibly delicious. I riffed off a recipe I found at Pinch of Yum. I had to get rid of some rapidly aging bananas and this recipe included them in the monkey bread. So here's how you do it:

Ingredients: 
1 package of Pillsbury Grands Biscuits 
1/2 cup of Splenda or other sugar substitute (my attempt to make these healthy)
1 teaspoon (or more if desired) of cinnamon
1-2 bananas (if you desire)
1/2 of butter for topping (optional)
2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar (optional)

Directions:
Break the biscuits up into clumps of varying sizes - I got between four and six pieces out of each biscuit. Although the recipe I found suggests putting the sugar/cinnamon in a ziplock back and adding the dough to coat, I found this to actually not work very well. So, I'd suggest putting the cinnamon/sugar in a bowl and rolling the pieces, a few at a time, in the mixture. Coat a muffin pan with nonstick spray and add in the pieces of dough. If you want to add banana, just cut up into piece and coat with the sugar/cinnamon mixture and add with the dough. Pop them in the oven for twenty minutes at 350 degrees and there you have it.

I think you can probably get between nine and eleven mini monkey bread muffins out of eight biscuits, which is between 150 and 124 calories a muffin- the average monkey bread made with real sugar is about 400 calories a serving. If you want, you can melt butter (or in my case Smart Balance) and brown sugar (my case Splenda Brown sugar) and add to the top of each muffin, before baking, for a more gooey texture. This will add a few calories of course.

I think these taste pretty good - If you use real sugar, they might be a little gooey-er, but of course more calories - your choice! I only allowed myself to eat two - one with bananas, one without and froze the rest - I think they'll be a nice treat one morning after a quick spin in the microwave.

I think I may just have to add these to the bake sale table after all! I think I could get $2 a piece out of each one!

Enjoy!