Sticky sweet Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread ready to devour in just 90 seconds! This easy single-serve fall dessert features fluffy gluten-free dough balls coated in sparkly cinnamon sugar, diced granny smith apples, and the easiest vegan SunButter caramel sauce. So easy, so indulgent!
Just because no bake season is over doesn’t mean we don’t still deserve really quick and EASY but still sorta healthy sweet treats. Enter: the good ol’ mug cake! As we ease into the season of hot coffee instead of iced and everything infused with pumpkin spice, microwave ready mugs of fluffy cake are the epitome of minimal effort, maximum cozy dessert-ing. This fall is my first fall living somewhere that actually falls (a.k.a. not Florida), so I am especially excited to embrace all things fall flavored and this Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread Mug Cake is as sweater-weather snacking as it gets.
How To Make Monkey Bread In A Mug
Typically monkey bread is made in a bundt pan and for a whole party’s worth of people. But sometimes you want monkey bread just for you and your sweet-craving self, and that’s where this perfect ramekin-for-one-recipe comes in. The process is pretty similar although we are swapping biscuit dough for a homemade vegan + gluten-free dough, using a homemade caramel sauce instead of glaze, and baking it in the microwave for speed (oven option included too though!)
Vegan Gluten-Free Monkey Bread Dough
This part of the recipe too quite a bit (soooo much) testing to get just right, but trust me it is JUST right! Soft, moist, pillowy, squish-able little pull apart dough balls that are fluffy on the inside and soak up all that sauce and cinnamon sugar on the outside – perfection!
In the end the ingredients were much simpler than where I started. The tricky part was creating a dough that is dry enough to be rolled into balls but still moist after baking, and also getting the gluten-y elasticity monkey bread must have but gluten-free and without eggs. So here is the easy ingredient list we landed on:
Applesauce. It adds moisture, it reduces the amount of oil we need, and of course if we can double up on the apple flavor in this APPLE cinnamon recipe we absolutely should. Unsweetened is best.
Maple syrup. I wanted the dough itself to be a little bit sweet despite all the sweet stuff going on outside of it, so just one teaspoon of maple syrup is perfect. You could use agave or honey instead.
Coconut oil. Again not too much here, but a little bit helps the dough firm up in the freezer real quick and be easy to roll into balls. Do not sub other oils, melted vegan butter would be okay.
Gluten-free flour. I tried really hard to make this recipe work with oat flour and the texture just wasn’t right, so a gluten-free blend is best here. If not gluten-free, regular all purpose flour is fine too.
Cinnamon,baking powder, and salt.
Granny smith apple. Or really any kind of apple you love, I personally am fond of granny smiths for baking. Diced into very fine little chunks.
The Sweetest SunButter Caramel Sauce
And hands down the easiest too – just 4 ingredients and no heat required! This caramel is delicious on so many things, and you will have a bit leftover from this recipe to experiment with.
Organic SunButter. You guys know how much I LOVE SunButter by now, and especially how much I love this variety for recipes. Only ingredient: roasted sunflower seeds. Special skill: being the silkiest, most delicious caramel sauce base ingredient.
Maple syrup. I love maple syrup for all my liquid sweetening needs this time of year because the flavor pair so beautifully with cinnamon, but another liquid sweetener would be okay.
Coconut oil. Adding some extra drizzly smoothness to this dairy free caramel sauce.
Vanilla extract. For a little extra of that classic caramel flavor. A pinch of salt wouldn’t hurt either if you are a SALTED caramel fan.
Tips For Making Your Monkey Bread Mug Cake
Before whisking the caramel together, make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. If you don’t, the coconut oil may seize up and not become the smooth silky caramel sauce of your dreams.
Chill the dough after mixing. It will be somewhere between a batter and a dough consistency initially, chilling for 10 to 15 minutes will firm it up just enough to be able to easily roll into little dough balls.
Make sure you use a large enough mug or ramekin (mine was approximately 8oz), otherwise it may overflow and become a mess in your microwave. Placing a plate underneath just to be safe it’s not a bad idea too.
If you don’t have a microwave or prefer not to use it, you can bake in the oven for 18 to 22 minutes at 350°F instead.
Sticky sweet Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread ready to devour in just 90 seconds! This easy single-serve fall dessert features fluffy gluten-free dough balls coated in sparkly cinnamon sugar, diced granny smith apples, and the easiest vegan SunButter caramel sauce. So easy, so indulgent!
Whisk together caramel sauce ingredients until smooth (you will have some leftover of this, it’s delicious on just about anything sweet!)
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add the applesauce, maple syrup, and melted coconut oil. Mix––it will be somewhere between a batter and dough consistency.
Freeze the dough for 10 minutes until firm enough to pinch off and roll into balls.
If using the cinnamon sugar, use a fork to mix into a wet sand texture.
Pinch off a small (1/2 tbsp) piece of dough, roll into a ball, roll in cinnamon sugar, and place in the ramekin. Repeat with all of the dough (I usually get between 10-12 balls/two layers of 5-6 in the ramekin).
Add the diced apples, filling the spaces between the dough balls.
Spoon caramel sauce over top to mostly cover.
Microwave 90 seconds on high.
Cool briefly, then enjoy!
Notes
*This can be used as 1) a cinna-sugar topping or 2) to roll the dough balls before placing in the ramekin. Both are delicious, option 2 is a little more work but more of the classic monkey bread method. Or you can skip this part entirely to make the recipe a bit lower in sugar, it will still be delicious with just the caramel sauce.
by 
