Gorilla Bread

It's a cold, cold, clear morning. The sky has ranged from Easter egg purple to an aquamarine blue, and the thermometer says it's 37 degrees outside. My nose is numbing up as I sit here on the couch, and I'm encouraging Dante to curl up closer to my side while wondering if I'm brave enough to start the gas logs (I grew up with old-school wood fires.... all the technology kind of scares me).

This is one of my favorite recipes, especially if I'm going to visit someone overnight or if I'm having overnight company. The first time I made it, the recipe turned out great, but since then I've rather lost my mojo: the biscuits don't seem to get done. The culprit might have been my old oven at the old house. It became squirrelley toward the end of our stay there, and I haven't tried the recipe again since we moved. But since Mike's parents are coming in a couple of weeks for Thanksgiving, I figure I might have to try again.

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen
Show: Paula's Home Cooking
Episode: Bed and Breakfast with Jimmy Carter

1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
2 (12-ounce) cans refrigerated biscuits (10 count)
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (I use pecans, of course.)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spray a bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon.
4. In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar over low heat, stirring well; set aside.
5. Cut the cream cheese into 20 equal cubes.
6. Press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon sugar.
7. Place a cube of cream cheese in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese.
8. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the nuts into the bottom of the bundt pan.
9. Place half of the prepared biscuits in the pan.
10. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, pour half of the melted butter mixture over the biscuits, and sprinkle on 1/2 cup of nuts.
11. 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 of nuts.
12. Bake for 30 minutes.
13. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes.
14. Place a plate on top and invert.

It helps to freeze the cream cheese for a couple of hours before cutting it: makes the stuff more manageable. And sprinkling sugar and cinnamon near the sink helps keep the mess down.

After it has cooked, if the biscuits aren't done, just spread them out on a cookie sheet and finish cooking them until done. At least that's what I did. The sugary syrup around them might burn on the sheet, so once they're done, just take up the biscuit and scrape the burnt stuff down the disposal. Nobody will ever know. Trust me.