Confess alert! Who else out there has a secret love affair with Pillsbury dough products? They’re a lifesaver for busy weeknights or when that sweet tooth comes calling. This time, I decided to take their classic cinnamon sugar monkey bread recipe and give it a fun and healthy makeover. Mini muffin tins are the perfect solution for portion control and satisfying cravings without going overboard. I tweaked the original recipe slightly to make it Weight Watchers-friendly, and guess what? Each of these adorable mini monkey bread sweet treats comes in at a shockingly low 1 Weight Watchers point!
The key to making lightened-up or healthy recipes is just using less sugar. There’s no need for cups and cups of it when a few tablespoons will do the trick! So ditch the guilt and embrace the deliciousness! These mini monkey bread treats are a win-win for busy schedules, sweet tooths, and staying on track with your healthy goals. Try them out and see for yourself!
Three reasons why you need to make this recipe!
Who wouldn’t love mini monkey bread?
Seriously, these are a crowd pleaser! No one has to know it’s lightened up. You and your guests can each enjoy a few of these for just a few WW points
It’s a great way to vary up the dessert menu.
Weeknight desserts are typically brownies or cookies because they’re so easy to make. You can now add this mini monkey bread to the menu rotation!
Mini monkey bread is low-fat.
A traditional monkey bread recipe is loaded with butter. You can skip the artery-clogging food and still enjoy this delicious mini monkey bread.
Ingredients you need to make Mini Monkey Bread:
- 1 (7.5 oz) package of Pillsbury or Great Value biscuit dough
- 1.5 tablespoons brown sugar
- ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1.5 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
How to make Mini Monkey Bread (step by step):
- Preheat the oven to 325F, spray a 24 mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray, and set aside.
- With an electric mixer, beat together the applesauce and brown sugar. Divide the mixture into the 24 mini muffin tin – about ½ teaspoon in each. Cut up 8 of the biscuits into 16 pieces. Cut 4 down and 4 across. You will have 2 extra biscuits left over.
- In a bag, mix the white sugar and cinnamon together, place all the pieces of biscuits in the bag, and shake well. Be sure to break up all the pieces that might stick together so they are all coated.
- Place 5 pieces in each muffin cup.
- Bake in the oven for approx. 9-11 minutes until the biscuits are fully cooked. Using a knife to cut around, lift the muffins up. The applesauce leaves a nice gooey, yummy bottom. Enjoy!
Makes 24 mini monkey breads. Nutrition info for 1 mini monkey bread: Calories 33, Fat 1 g, Saturated fat .36 g, Carbs 6 g, Fiber .16 g, Sugars 2.25 g, Sodium 94.52 mg, Protein 1 g.
WW Points For Mini Monkey Bread:
- Biscuit dough 18 points
- Brown sugar 6 points
- Unsweetened applesauce 0 points
- White sugar 5 points
- Cinnamon 0 points
1 point per serving based on the WW app recipe creator.
If you’re using an older version of WW, check out these points below.
Freestyle SP- (blue & purple) 1 using WW recipe builder
Smart Points- (green) 1 using SP calculator
Points Plus- 2 monkey breads for 1 PP using PP calculator
Different ways to change up this recipe:
- Add in a sprinkle of mini chocolate chips for added deliciousness.
Tips and Tricks for Making Mini Monkey Bread:
- Pillsbury has discontinued the 7.5oz package of biscuits that come in a 4 pack but Walmart carries them in their Great Value brand. Also, you can use a bigger Pillsbury biscuit pack and weigh out 7.5 oz of dough, or just increase the points if you use more dough.
- Make sure you have sprayed the muffin cups or they will stick!
Similar recipes you’ll enjoy:
Mini monkey bread
Ingredients
- 1 package of biscuit dough, 7.5oz (the multi 4 pack ones by great value)
- 1.5 T brown sugar
- 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1.5 T white sugar
- 1 t cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F, spray a 24 mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray, and set aside.
- With an electric mixer, beat together the applesauce and brown sugar. Divide the mixture into the 24 mini muffin tin - about ½ teaspoon in each. Cut up 8 of the biscuits into 16 pieces. Cut 4 down and 4 across. You will have 2 extra biscuits left over
- In a bag, mix the white sugar and cinnamon together, place all the pieces of biscuits in the bag, and shake well. Be sure to break up all the pieces that might stick together so they are all coated.
- Place 5 pieces in each muffin cup.
- Bake in the oven for approx. 9-11 minutes until the biscuits are fully cooked. Using a knife to cut around, lift the muffins up. The applesauce leaves a nice gooey, yummy bottom. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
In step 2 you selled divide wrong. Just thought I’d tell you
Haha! Well were all human and make mistakes 😉
And you spelled spelled wrong!
haha just noticed that
And you spelled… Spelled wrong!
Your website is amazing! What is your Instagram?
Thank you! It’s weightwatchers4me 🙂
This has just become my new go to for weight watcher recipes. I love the simplicity of them
Thank you 🙂 I do try to keep things simple.. Enjoy the recipes!!
Is that 1 smart point for each piece or each muffin? Thanks!
Each mini muffin
Love this recipe! Totally satisfying my cinnamon bun craving right now!
Glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Nom nom nom! I believe I could make this for a treat tomorrow! I have homemade Apple Butter I could use!
Hope you enjoy them Becca 🙂
WOW ive been on ww for over a month now and just discovered your site. Im in heaven! I love baking but everything being so high in points takes the fun out of it, YOUVE GIVEN ME MY FUN BACK 😀 thank you
Hi Kayla, yay, glad you found me..Happy baking..good luck on your WW journey 🙂
Are the buttermilk biscuits the same as the country biscuits?
I think they are close enough, yes..
I only have a regular muffin tin pan, how many points would each muffin be then?. My muffin tin looks like the one pictured above. Is that a mini or regular muffins tin?
Hi it is a mini pan in picture, it depends how many you get as far as the point value, maybe use what you would need for 3 mini’s in one reg cup then you know they should be 3 points
MMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmm so so yummy. I agree with above comments. This easy to make, simple ingredient list, makes following WW so much easier, for me at least. I can have my cinnamon buns and loose weight. too. You help keep it real with your recipes/thoughts/ideas. Thank you!
Thank you so much Debbie for your sweet words 🙂