gorilla bread

this is an over-the-top "monkey bread" recipe from paula deen. i've made it a zillion times and it's always crowd-pleasin'.

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 (12 oz) cans refrigerated biscuits (10 count each)
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

preheat oven to 350 degrees.

spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.  mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon; set aside.  in a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar over low heat, stirring well; set aside.  cut the cream cheese into 20 equal cubes.  press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar.  place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese and roll the biscuits in the cinnamon sugar.  sprinkle 1/2 cup of the nuts into the bottom of the bundt pan.  place half of the prepared biscuits in the pan.  sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar, pour half of the melted butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle 1/2 cup of nuts.  layer the remaining biscuits on top, sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar, pour the remaining butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup nuts.  bake for 30 minutes.  remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes.  place a plate on top and invert.

here's what i have to say about that...i find it needs to bake for 40 minutes.  also, you don't have to be that careful with the amount of cinnamon sugar you put in the biscuits before you add the cream cheese cubes; in fact, i sprinkle it on pretty heavily.  also, don't let it rest longer than 5 minutes after you pull it out of the oven; the topping and some of the biscuits will stick to the pan and it messes up the presentation.

here's a link to the recipe on foodnetwork.com   http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/paulas-gorilla-bread-recipe/84905.html  i notice in her video she says she bakes it for 50-60 minutes, but the original recipe calls for 30 minutes.  again, i have had the best results at 40 minutes.