Gorilla Bread (Monkey Bread with a Twist)

This week I have a church potluck, small church group, mom’s potluck and a block party to attend and guess who is baking??  Yeah, lots of new desserts this week including Oreo Brownies, Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars, Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes, Apple Hand Pies (should be interesting!), Mini Cheesecakes and Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars.  That’s my plan… we’ll see which ones make the cut, but I’m pretty confident the cupcakes will.

Listen, I don’t really exercise any more and I stopped calorie counting once I hit 140 lbs.  So, I want my desserts and other high calorie items awesome.  If I’m going to ruin a bunch of calories, I may as well ruin calories with really freakishly awesome stuff.  This is why this blog is here.  I will make 3-4 items for the blog and only one makes it because the others are just “okay”.  Brownies from a box are okay.  Duncan Hines with eggs, oil and water is okay.  Duncan Hines with oil, dry pudding mix, sour cream, eggs and coffee is great! (See Snickers Cupcakes for that chocolate base recipe).

Onto the recipe…

Leave it to Paula Deen to take fattening laden biscuits and pour fat and sugar on them to make them even more delicious.  Sigh.  Well, that is why I hand this stuff to the neighborhood kids while I nibble on the deliciousness.  Okay, handfuls of the deliciousness.

Gorilla Bread
yields 10 servings

1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 – 8oz. pkg. cream cheese, cold and not room temp.
2 (12 oz.) cans refrigerated biscuits (not Grands, normal size)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

1.  Preheat oven 350 degrees.
2.  Generously spray your bundt pan with nonstick spray.  In small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon.
3.  In saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar.  Remove from heat.
4.  While that is melting, get out the biscuits and flatten them with your fingers.  Cut the cream cheese into 20 cubes.
5.  Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp. of the cinnamon and sugar mix into each biscuit.  Place one cube of cream cheese in the middle.  Wrap the biscuit around the cream cheese and seal tight.  Do this for each biscuit.
6.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup nuts on the bottom of bundt pan.  Place 10 biscuits on top of the nuts.  Pour half of the melted butter mixture on top of the biscuits.  Sprinkle another 1/2 cup nuts.  Layer remaining biscuits.  Sprinkle remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Pour remaining butter mix over the biscuits.  Sprinkle the rest of the nuts on top.
7.  Bake 30 minutes.  Cool for 5 minutes then invert on a plate.