Egg Nog Pull-Apart Bread

Oftentimes I will make cinnamon rolls for a morning treat.  I like to make the rolls the night before, then let them do a slow rise in the fridge overnight.  In the morning all I have to do is take them out of the fridge, let rise while the oven is warming up, and bake. It's an effective way to get a fresh yeast dough treat without getting up three hours before everyone else does!

My son loves egg nog.  At the holidays I always buy a container for his use.  I've made breakfast dishes before using eggnog, things like French toast and waffles.  I've made cookies and cake.  I started thinking about making a cinnamon roll using egg nog in the dough. I ran across a recipe for "Monkey Bread"; the pastry with balls of cinnamon goodness that you literally pull apart to eat. A lightbulb in my head went off and I thought I could do that with egg nog! It worked quite well!

I used my bread machine to make the yeast dough, substituting 1 cup of egg nog for the liquid. Your favorite sweet yeast dough can also be used, doing the same substitution.  The balls of dough are rolled in a sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg mixture.  Once baked, an egg nog glaze is poured over the still-warm bread. It was very good with our morning coffee!

This was a fun baking project to do with my granddaughter.  She enjoyed putting the dough into the melted butter, then the sugar mixture.  Her touch isn't very light yet, we had some squished pieces but that's quite ok! She was quite proud of her efforts!

On the last rise, before baking.

Egg Nog Pull-Apart Bread

Dough: (or use bread machine recipe, substituting egg nog)

1 cup warm egg nog
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons egg nog

In a large bowl, stir egg nog, yeast and sugar together.  Let sit 10-15 minutes or until it starts to foam. Stir in egg, oil, half the flour and salt. Slowly incorporate remaining flour until dough starts to get smooth but still a little sticky. Place into a well greased bowl and let rise 1-2 hours or until doubled. Punch dough down, remove from bowl and cut into bite-sized pieces.

(After dough has doubled you can put in refrigerator overnight).

Spray a 9-inch baking pan with baking spray or coat with butter.

Melt butter in small bowl or shallow dish.  In a separate dish, combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Dip each dough piece into butter, then the sugar mixture.  Place into the cake pan.  Let dough rise another 30-45 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake 25-30 minutes, testing with toothpick to make sure bread is fully cooked.  Cover with foil if top and edges are browning too quickly. Remove from oven.

Combine glaze ingredients; spoon over warm bread. Pull apart the dough pieces and enjoy!