Caramel Cashew Monkey Bread

In a sauce pan, mix the milk and water. Cook on very low heat until it until it reaches about 110-115°F. Remove from the heat.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, sprinkle in the yeast and pour the warm milk and water mixer over the top. Stir until combined. Add in the 6 tablespoons of slightly cooled, melted butter. Mix in 1/4 cup sugar. Whisk the two eggs in a separate bowl, and slowly add them in the yeast mixture so that they don’t curdle.

Add in salt and mix in flour, one cup at a time. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated. The dough will look shaggy and sticky at this point.

Turn the dough onto a well-floured board and knead for about 2-3 minutes; or knead in stand mixer for 2 minutes. You can sprinkle a bit more flour over the dough if it’s too sticky. The dough will come together as a nice, smooth ball.

Butter or grease a clean bowl. Place the dough ball in bowl, turn it over once to coat all sides in the butter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for an hour.

Make caramel sauce during last 10 minutes of rising: Place all of the caramel ingredients, except for the vanilla, into a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Take off the heat and stir in vanilla. Set aside.

Punch down the risen dough. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Cut each piece into 10 equal pieces. (Don’t stress over this part – just eyeball them to make them look more or less the same size.)

Butter your bundt pan. Sprinkle half of the cashews in the bottom of the pan. Pour half the caramel over the top of the cashews.

Melt 10 tablespoons of butter in a microwave-safe bowl.

Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a medium bowl.

Roll each dough piece into a ball and dunk first in the butter, then roll it around in the cinnamon-sugar mixutre.

Place 20 prepared dough balls over the top of the caramel-cashew layer. Gently push them down a bit into the caramel and cashews.

Sprinkle the remaining cashews over that layer. Pour the remaining caramel over top.

Add the remaining prepared dough balls over the caramel-cashew layer. Gently push the dough down again, into the caramel.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 30 minutes. While the dough is rising, preheat your oven to 350°F.

Take the plastic wrap off the risen dough pan and gently push down the dough a bit.

Place the bundt pan on a baking sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes, then loosely cover the top with foil to prevent over-browning.

Remove from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Very carefully invert the pan onto a serving plate.

Serve warm, but not straight from the pan. The caramel may burn your mouth.

If you have any leftovers, wrap in wax paper and foil. It will keep for a day or two…maybe….if you don’t have any midnight snackers in your house.