Chocolate Caramel Monkey Bread

For the month of November I’m going to write about food that I’ve never had, but would like to try for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This recipe is from Better Homes and Gardens. I’ve never had Monkey Bread and after searching I found there are many different ways to make it. There’s cinnamon, pumpkin, pizza and I even found cheddar, bacon and garlic monkey bread. So it looks like once you’ve made it, you can put about anything in it or on it. Serves 16 Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sliced almonds or chopped pecans, toasted
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder 
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 16.3 ounce pkg. refrigerated biscuits (16 total)
32 chocolate-covered caramels (such as Rolo®)
1/2 cup butter, melted 
1/4 cup caramel-flavor ice cream topping
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease a 10-inch nonstick fluted tube pan. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the almonds in bottom of pan. Combine sugar, cocoa powder and cinnamon.

With kitchen scissors, cut each biscuit into 2 pieces. Using your hands, flatten each piece into a 3-inch round of dough. Place a chocolate covered caramel, in the center of each round. Bring the edge of the dough up and around the caramel to form a ball. Pinch the edges of the dough together to seal firmly.

Dip each ball into the melted butter, then roll it in the sugar mixture. Layer coated balls in the prepared pan. Drizzle with any remaining butter; sprinkle with any remaining sugar mixture.

Stir together ice cream topping and vanilla; drizzle over rolls. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup almonds.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (If needed, cover bread with foil the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning.) Cool bread in pan for 5 minutes. Run a small rubber spatula around edge of the bread to loosen. Invert pan onto a platter; remove pan. Spoon any topping and nuts that remain in pan on bread. Cool slightly. Serve warm. Yum Yum!