Monday Munchies: Spicy Plucking Bread

“Plucking Bread” is sometimes called “Monkey Bread,” and they are much the same thing. Both are easy, nutritious, attractive to look at, and very, very versatile.  You can turn your “plucking bread” into dessert, snack, or a full meal, all depending on what you add to it.

Here is the recipe for Spicy Plucking Bread.

Ingredients:

• 3 cans refrigerated dinner rolls
• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup sugar (do not substitute Splenda for this recipe)
• 1 heaping tablespoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 3/4 cup pepper jelly (any flavor) (we like to add the matching fresh fruit, but you don’t have to.)

What to do:

Get out your largest angel food cake pan or bundt pan and grease thoroughly. Be sure to include the middle. Melt the butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave, and add the sugar, cinnamon, nuts, and pepper jelly.

Cut each of the rolls in two and cover the bottom of the pan with them. Spread the pepper jelly mixture over the top. Add another layer of rolls, and another layer of pepper jelly mixture, and repeat until all ingredients are gone.

Bake at 350° F for about 35 minutes. (Keep checking to make sure the middle isn’t still goopy.)

When you remove the pan from the oven, immediately invert the pan onto a plate.

We like to spread more pepper jelly on the piping hot bread before we tear into it.

And when I say “tear into it,” that’s exactly what I mean. Because plucking bread is made up of separate pieces of dough, it bakes into balls of bread that can be “plucked” off and eaten.

Of course, if you’re wanting to appear a bit more refined, you can always slice it with a sharp serrated knife. If you do eat it this way, you’ll notice that the inside of the loaf is absolutely beautiful – crisscrossed and patterned with dark and light nuts.

P.S.  Don’t forget that soon, VERY soon now, Texas Pepper Jelly will be announcing its newest and most awesome product!