It's just the four of us here in Texas, my family lives in Alabama and his in Ohio. That being said, holiday's are a little quiet here. I try and do things that make the girls look forward to the holiday's and one of those things is Monkey Bread. I found the recipe for a really simple version several years ago, and it was a hit! Shelby looks forward to it the most; she starts reminding me that I make it weeks before the day gets here. She also gets up early with me every year to help put it together. This year I laughed, after I pulled the last biscuit can out of the plastic, Pillsbury has the same recipe on their packaging.
Monkey Bread
4 cans of the Pillsbury biscuits in the blue can
1/2 cup of sugar
lots of cinnamon
1 stick of melted butter
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut the biscuits in quarters, roll into a ball and coat . Then place them in a greased bundt pan (that's what I use anyways). Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture evenly over the top. Combine melted butter and brown sugar, pour it over the biscuits and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes and invert onto a plate.
While that was baking, she helped me make the Banana Pudding that I absolutely adore! No one but me eats it, but I'm well worth it!!
You can tell she's rather particular...they had to be lined up exactly just so! It came out scrumptious!
After breakfast, it was time for the pies. When I was growing up, my mother always made Chocolate Pudding Pies and she'd put them in the little individual pie shells. I saw the Keebler graham cracker individual shells, so my girls got the same treat this year. Shelby helped with that too and even tried one. The Ice Cream Pies are Bob's favorite. Never had I had one of these either until we went to visit his family the first time. His mom does hers with raspberry Jello, but I abhor anything raspberry, so I usually do black cherry. This year I tried lime Jello too, and it's my new favorite. I'll share the recipe for this one also.
Ice Cream Pie
1 baked pie shell (I use frozen)
1/2 of a block of Vanilla ice cream
2 cups boiled water
2 small packages of same flavored Jello (Black Cherry, Cherry and Lime are great)
Add the jello to the boiling water in a large bowl. Once jello is dissolved, add the ice cream. Mix until the ice cream is completely blended in. (a potato masher works great for this step). Let the mixture sit for a few minutes to thicken up. I put mine in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes. Pour into the baked/cooled pie shell and put in the refrigerator for a few hours to set. You'll have extra filling...pour it in a bowl and the kids love that by itself.
I think the only important thing to remember on the jello flavor is, the stronger the flavor, the more it will come through when combined with the ice cream. On the ice cream, I buy the generic Walmart brand that comes in a box and it works great.
Being a firm believer of options, my family of four got to choose from four different dessert flavors this year. A little crazy, but why should we be penalized just because we don't have a huge get together?!
The turkey was great, Bob and his co-workers smoke them at work each year in one of the guy's BBQ pits. That makes my day a little less crazy, and they're the best! We all ate too much and enjoyed the afternoon watching football and trying to nap! In addition to the Monkey Bread, up until this year we've always gone to the theater in the afternoon and watched a movie as a family. This year, no one could agree on the movie so that was bypassed.
How about you, do you have any special traditions that make the day extra special?
Mandy
I think that the traditions you are doing with the girls are priceless. But you did have the monkey bread a few times when you were growing up. I learnt how to it when I was in the 9th grade in Homemaking. It is the only recipe that I remember from that time. I am so proud of you and your cooking abilities. I have also gotten some really good recipes from you. I was looking through my recipes last night and found some that you had sent to me. Shelby looked like she was having fun. Those memories are what makes life memorable. Love ya, Mother
ReplyDeleteOh, wow...you guys really got your dessert groove going on!! Those chocolate little pies look scrumptious! Of course I love banana pudding too...and
ReplyDeleteI will definately make a frozen ice cream pie tomorrow...we have a shell left over and I already have the vsnilla ice cream and 1 package of lime jello...just need one more...and we are ready to go!
Shelby was so cute making her monkey bread and pies!!! I want to make Monkey bread one day too. I saw a really amazing one which you can see HERE.
This year we had a new tradition of having our DIL and two grandchildren living with us. Our tree has a mix of their and our ornaments.
We all contribute to the planning and executing of holiday meals, etc., which is such a blessing!
This was a wonderful day today mostly because they are here with us!
Praise God!
xoxo- Julie
Ahhh what great traditions you have started! That is so wonderful. I used to love to cook also. After a while I started doing it on my own. But first she gave me a night a week to make dinner. That was so fun. I got to choose and make whatever I wanted. It made me feel independent in a way and I got lots of praise.
ReplyDeleteI used to make my version of monkey bread every year at thanksgiving too. I call them sticky buns. So yummy!
Love the pie recipe, may have to try it!