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I still remember my first pull-apart bread: A still-warm loaf that a friend brought in for a Breakfast Friday at work. It was hard to keep my hands out of it. She made hers from scratch, but as someone who is as much a brown thumb with yeast as I am with green plants, I needed a cheat.
This apple cinnamon biscuit loaf is pull-apart bread wearing its Sunday best: canned flaky-layer biscuit halves dipped in melted butter, rolled in cinnamon sugar, layered in with chopped apple pie filling, then baked in a loaf pan. No need to cut it; the slices are barely held together, so they, you can guess, pull apart easily.
It looks like an all-day project but really, it’s a can of Pillsbury biscuits and about 15 minutes of dipping.
Serve it warm with small plates and let everyone serves themselves.
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Steps + Photos to make Apple Cinnamon Biscuit Loaf
Step 1: Preheat and prep
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a bread loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on the long sides for easy lifting later.
Step 2: Separate the biscuits
Remove the biscuits from the can and pull each one apart into two rounds, so you end up with 16 thin pieces. Flaky layer biscuits split naturally down the middle.
Step 3: Chop the pie filling
Chop the apple pie filling into smaller pieces. Big slices slide out of the stacks; small pieces stay put between the layers.
Step 4: Mix the cinnamon sugar and melt the butter
Stir the cinnamon and sugar together in a bowl wide enough to dip a piece of raw biscuit dough. Melt the butter in a second bowl the same size. This is your dip station. Note: We will be building vertically.
Step 5: Dip, coat, and stack
Dip a biscuit piece in the melted butter, then coat both sides in cinnamon sugar. Lay it flat, spoon a little pie filling on top, and repeat: dipped biscuit, filling, dipped biscuit. Build stacks about 4 biscuits tall so they are easy to handle.
Step 6: Arrange in the pan
Flip the biscuit towers sideways and arrange them in the bread pan like books on a shelf. If a few pieces do not fit, leave them out. An overstuffed pan will not cook through in the middle.
Step 7: Bake
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the loaf is no longer doughy in the center. The top will get deeply browned and that’s a normal cooked cinnamon-sugar appearance.
Step 8: Glaze
Whisk the powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon of milk, adding the second tablespoon only if it needs loosening. Drizzle over the warm loaf and let it run down into the layers.
Tools and Equipment
- Bread pan (9×5 inch)
- Parchment paper
- 3 small or medium bowls
- Tongs
- Spoon
- Measuring cups and spoons
Tips for Success
- Choose flaky-layer biscuits. They split into even halves and bake naturally into pull-apart sheets.
- Do not overstuff the pan. It’s okay if it looks a bit loosey-goosey once you lay the stack of biscuits on their side in the loaf pan. If overstuffed, the centers will not bake through.
- While the top will get pretty dark from the cinnamon-sugar, if it gets dark brown and it still has more than 15 minutes of bake time, tent a foil cover over the pan in the last few minutes of baking.
- Check the center at 40 minutes. A knife between the middle layers should come out without wet dough on it.
- Tongs help keep your fingers out of the butter-then-sugar assembly line.
- Serve warm the day it is baked. Leftovers keep covered for 2 days and revive in a 300°F oven for about 10 minutes.
- Peach or cherry pie filling swap in with no other changes.
The bottom line
This easy apple cinnamon biscuit loaf turns a can of flaky-layer biscuits, a can of apple pie filling, and a bowl of cinnamon sugar into a pull-apart bread that is a lot like monkey bread. Just a few minutes of dipping dough into a sugar mixture, about 45 mins in the oven, and you have a nice little homemade fall dessert (who are we kidding, this is a year-round sweet treat). Make it for a weekend breakfast or a fall brunch and let everyone serve themselves.
Want more apple pie filling ideas? Say hello to:
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Apple Cinnamon Biscuit Loaf
Ingredients
- 16.3 oz Pillsbury Flaky Layers biscuits 1 can
- 1 c sugar
- 1 T cinnamon
- 1 stick butter melted
- 21 oz apple pie filling 1 can, chopped
- 1/3 c powdered sugar
- 1-2 T milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a bread pan with parchment paper.
- Remove the biscuits from the package and pull each one apart to separate into 16 pieces.
- Chop the pie filling into smaller pieces.
- Mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a small or medium bowl, big enough to dip the biscuits in. Melt the butter in a bowl the same size.
- Dip a biscuit in the butter, then coat each side in the cinnamon sugar. Set it flat, spoon on some pie filling, and repeat, building stacks about 4 biscuits tall with filling between the layers.
- Flip the biscuit towers sideways and arrange in the bread pan. Do not overstuff the pan or the loaf will not cook through.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until no longer doughy in the center. The top will brown, and that is okay.
- Mix the powdered sugar and milk, then drizzle over the top.
