CREAM CHEESE STUFFED MONKEY BREAD

I signed up to get recipes by email from Rhodes Dough. Most of the recipes I have deleted--I would NEVER make them. This one however, caught my eye and it is a keeper!! My apologies to Rhodes though. The grocery was out of Rhodes so I bought the generic rolls and I must say they were absolutely fine!! If you have Kroger in your area; that's the kind I used. Quite a bit cheaper too. We had some company this weekend and EVERYONE loved these. They were gone quickly. Next time I will add pecans. We love nuts around here. We are nuts around here!!

20 Rhodes (or other brand) frozen dough rolls-thawed but not raised
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup)
4 T. cinnamon sugar (1 T. cinnamon, 3 T. sugar, mixed)
8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature

Combine cream cheese with 1/2 c. of the brown sugar. Mix well and set aside.
Melt butter and then add remaining 2 c. brown sugar and stir well. Bring to a light boil to caramelize. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into bottom of a bundt pan. Take one roll at a time into your hands and stretch it into a small circle. Place approx. 1 T. of the cream cheese/sugar mixture into the middle and pinch closed into a ball. Evenly place 8 of the filled rolls in the bottom of the pan, on top of the caramelized mixture. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar on top of the 8 rolls Pour an additional 1/3 of the sugar mixture on top. ** Repeat the process with the remaining 12 rolls for the second layer. First the dough balls, then the remaining cinnamon sugar and finally the remaining sugar mixture..

Let rise for 30-45 minutes. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes. You may need to lay a piece of foil over top of pan after 30 minutes if buns start looking too brown. I did this step.

Remove from oven and immediately invert onto a LARGE plate. The caramel mixture will run all over so make sure the plate is large. I did it onto a cookie sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature.

These raise REALLY high and the rolls are large. Most monkey bread is cut smaller.

**Next time I will add 1/2 cup chopped pecans to each layer.