This chocolate monkey bread with caramel drizzle and pretzels is a loaded goodie you can serve for a special breakfast or a sweet dessert. It could be either, but no matter when you serve it everyone will beg for more!

There are occasions that just call for an over the top sweet breakfast treat that could double as dessert.

First day of school.

Mother’s Day.

Easter.

Christmas morning.

All would be the perfect occasion to serve this chocolate monkey bread.

We’re talking about buttery cocoa coated biscuit pieces mixed with chocolate chips and crushed pretzels baked to decadent perfection.

A drizzle of caramel sauce finishes off the whole chocolate monkey bread situation and makes it a totally indulgent breakfast treat.

What is monkey bread and why is it called that?

Monkey bread is a soft, pastry like sweet breakfast or treat.

Sometimes it’s called bubble bread, pull apart bread, or plucking cake.

It’s most commonly called monkey bread for any number of reasons including:

you pick it apart and eat it like a monkey
it looks like a monkey puzzle tree
the name came from southern slang

It came from a Hungarian dessert of yeast dough balls coated in cinnamon sugar, piled high in a cake pan and baked.

Sometimes it was called Hungarian coffee cake though the traditional name was arany galuska.

Nancy Reagan made several versions of the dessert bake in the 80s when she was the First Lady and kicked off a monkey bread food craze.

What does monkey bread taste like?

Monkey bread tastes like indulgent sweetened extra buttery biscuits.

This chocolate monkey bread also has cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and crushed pretzels, which add extra flavors into the mix.

Ingredients

To make this you’ll need:

Biscuit dough– 2 refrigerated cans of biscuit dough. You don’t want butter flavored or flaky layer style biscuits.
Sugar– Granulated
Cocoa powder– Unsweetened
Pretzels– Crushed
Chocolate chips– Semi sweet
Butter– Melted
Caramel sauce– To drizzle over the baked monkey bread

How to Make

Chocolate monkey bread is easy to make!

Start by lightly spray a bundt pan or angel food cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Set the prepared pan aside.

Open and separate all the biscuits.

Cut each biscuit into 4 quarters with kitchen shears or a sharp knife.

Then stir the sugar and cocoa powder together until they are evenly combined.

Put the sugar mixture into a large zip-locking bag.

Put the biscuit pieces in the bag and seal the bag.

Shake the bag to coat all the biscuits with the cocoa powder mixture.

Spread out half of the coated dough in the pan so they cover the bottom.

Don’t worry if they overlap or there are slight gaps in coverage.

Then sprinkle half of the pretzels and chocolate chips evenly out over top of the dough.

Drizzle half of the butter over top of this layer.

Then repeat this, using the remainder of dough, pretzels, chips, and butter.

Bake the monkey bread at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Then take the pan out of the oven and let it rest for 5 full minutes.

Run a butter knife gently along the outer and inner edges of the cake pan to release the monkey bread.

To turn the monkey bread out from the cake pan, lay a cutting board over the top of the pan, hold it in place, and flip them both over.

Serve as is, or top with a a caramel sauce drizzle, before slicing and serving while still warm.

Enjoy!

Storing

Store leftovers in an airtight container on your counter for up to 2 days or in the fridge for up to 4.

Reheat it in the oven prior to serving to enjoy it warm.

Tips and Tricks

Make sure to let the bread sit for 5 minutes before turning it out to let it set.
The caramel drizzle is optional but highly recommended.
Serve it with a scoop of ice cream or spray of whipped cream for an extra treat!

Other Monkey Bread Recipes

Chocolate monkey bread with caramel drizzle is a yummy treat for breakfast or dessert!

Make it and treat your family!

Looking for other monkey bread recipes?

Try these:

If you’ve tried this CHOCOLATE MONKEY BREAD WITH CARAMEL DRIZZLE, or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and whatever else we’ve got going on!