Monkey Bread and Apple Cider Cream Puffs with Country Crock #Good2KnowSpreads #Spon

Thanksgiving at our house is an all day event. Before he met me my husband swore by eating only once a day. I like to start by having something that is easy to make ahead of time and assemble the day of for breakfast. I know that once the 25lb turkey starts to roast people are going to make their way to the kitchen looking for snacks. I like to offer a  few different dessert-like dishes for breakfast such as crumb cake, antipasto picked up from the store to add to my breakfast buffet. A combination of dishes that tickle the pallet but keeps room for the main event. 

I have two little girls. They love to eat a little then wander. Making things bite site allows for the nibbling. Monkey bread is a good example of this. They can easily pick off what they want. It like a bunch of donut holes baked together! My girls love donut holes! Another dessert I make for Thanksgiving are cream puffs. Since I try to keep it light I chose vanilla Cool Whip Frosting with a packet of Mott's Apple Cider mix. Once mixed together it's like fall just enveloped your mouth. The are both great desserts for breakfast time and for dessert at dinner on your Thanksgiving day!

Until I bought Country Crock the other day I didn't realize how much I used butter. I started to replace my usual butter usage with the Country Crock. It's definitely easier to use when making desserts with a half a cup or a whole cup of butter. I've made both monkey bread and apple cider cream puffs many times. I certainly cannot taste the difference. I thought there would be because butter is used so predominately in the recipe. It certainly makes me feel better since Country Crock I bought has added calcium and vitamin D. Plus it has no trans fats. 0g trans fat per serving, no hydrogenated oils and 70% less saturated fat, 30% fewer calories than butter and no cholesterol. It's a small change that helps a lot.

Recipe for Monkey Bread

 For bread:

1 pkg dry yeast

1 cup milk, warm

1/2 cup Country Crock, melted but cooled

3-4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp salt

For dip:

1/2 cup Country Crock, melted

2 cups light brown sugar

1 tbs cinnamon

In large bowl add warm milk and sprinkle yeast on top. Wait 5 minutes until it foams. To the yeast mixture add melted butter, sugar, and salt. Use a wooden spoon to mix it together. Turn bread machine onto the dough setting and press start so it begins mixing. Add 2 cups of flour and allow to mix. Add more flour a little at a time until it comes together and produce a very elastic dough. After the bread machine is done on the dough setting, roll out the dough on a lightly floured pastry board with a floured rolling pin into a square roughly 1/2" thick. Cut square into four sections. Cut each 1/4 into four more sections and those into four more. Heat oven to 200F then shut off. Oil bundt pan of your choosing. Roll dough squares into balls. In small bowl add the 2 cups brown sugar reserved for dipping with cinnamon. Make sure you have the 1/2 cup of melted Country Crock as well. Dip dough balls into butter and then into the brown sugar mixture. Add dough balls to prepared bundt pan with a large outer circle and a smaller inner circle. Once circles are done add another layer until you run out of dough balls. Put the bundt pan in the oven and let rise until doubled. Once doubled, turn on oven to 350 and let bake for 30 minutes. Once done baking and safe to handle place platter on top of bundt pan and invert. The monkey bread should slide right out.

Recipe for Apple Cider Cream Puffs

For Puffs:

1 cup water

1/2 cup Country Crock

1/8 salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

4 eggs

For Cream:

1 tub of vanilla Cool Whip Frosting

1 packet of Mott's Spiced Apple Cider

1/2 cup of honey, warmed

Preheat oven to 400. Prepare baking sheet with parchment paper. In large sauce pan bring the water, Country Crock, and salt to a boil. Reduce heat, and stir in flour and vanilla. Dough will start to come together rapidly so make sure to stir constantly and at a quick pace until it forms a ball. Once it forms a ball remove from heat and let cool for 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated into the batter, constantly stirring until the dough becomes shiny again. Add dough into pastry bag with a large tip. With pastry bag form dough into whatever shape you desire. Let bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until puffs are golden brown and make a hollow sound when tapped with a knife. Once out of the oven make a small slit so the steam can escape the puff. Once cool cut tops off puffs and prepare frosting. Mix the packet of apple cider into the frosting. Spoon the frosting mixture into the puff then put top on. Drizzle warm honey on top. Enjoy!

Thank you to Good to Know & Unilever Spreads for being a sponsor. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.