Papa John's Cinnamon Pull Aparts are an easy copycat. Featuring fresh baked bite-sized dough balls coated in cinnamon sugar, covered with crumbles, and topped with frosting.
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Create your own copycat Papa John’s Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread in the comfort of your own home. Prepared in 15 minutes with minimal ingredients, each pull-apart piece is coated in butter, covered in cinnamon sugar, topped with crumbles, and baked until golden brown and bubbly.
Copycat Papa John’s Cinnamon Pull Aparts
Our easy Papa John’s Cinnamon Pull Aparts recipe resembles the sweet taste and soft texture of my Cinnamon Roll Bites, but these cinnamon sugar-coated balls are formed from fresh pizza dough instead of a can of buttermilk biscuits.
Just like a traditional Monkey Bread recipe that’s been baked in a bundt pan, these Papa Johns cinnamon bites are served tear-and-share style. But if you’d rather serve your roll as a slice instead of a pull-apart pastry, my Cinnamon Roll Bundt cake is also delicious for breakfast, brunch, or dessert.
Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread is a fun way to rip off your roll; it tastes like a sweet cinnamon sugar frosted donut that’s been baked in the oven instead of deep fried in oil.
Why We Love Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread
- Quick and easy to make.
- Uses a handful of simple ingredients.
- Soft on the inside, buttery crisp on the outside, these bite-sized balls taste like warm cinnamon rolls served smaller.
- The tear and share aspect makes it great for groups.
- Eating with your fingers is always fun!
- Perfectly satisfying for your morning breakfast meal, a holiday brunch, or a decadent dessert.
Cinnamon Pull Aparts Ingredients
- All purpose flour
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Cinnamon
- Unsalted butter
- Fresh pizza dough
- Cream cheese
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
- Heavy whipping cream
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Substitutions and Additions
- Use Different Dough: Frozen yeast bread dough can be used if you cannot find fresh pizza dough.
- Top The Treats: Papa John’s cinnamon pull-parts are topped with cream cheese icing. However, you can use a standard powdered sugar glaze.
- Bake It In A Bundt Pan: You can easily bake your cinnamon pull aparts in the oven with a bundt ban. I’ve got The Best Monkey Bread recipe plus a Chocolate-Filled Monkey Bread With Sprinkles that is delicious!
How to Make Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread
- Create The Crumble: Combine the flour, white sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter. Set aside.
- Roll Round: Cut the pizza dough into small pieces, then roll them into balls.
- Coat And Cover: Drop the dough balls into melted butter and roll around to coat. Place the butter-coated dough balls in a bowl of cinnamon sugar and roll to cover.
- Bake: Place the dough balls in a single layer into the baking pan, sprinkle with crumble topping and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 23-26 minutes or until the golden and bubbly. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
- Form The Frosting: Beat together the butter and cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and beat again until smooth. Add the heavy cream and beat until the frosting has a pipeable consistency.
- Pipe A Pattern: Pipe a criss-cross pattern of frosting onto the top of the pull-aparts. Serve warm and enjoy!
Tips For Making Papa John’s Cinnamon Pull Aparts
- Be sure to leave enough parchment paper to overhang the sides to make lifting the cinnamon pull-aparts out of the pan easily.
- You can bake these cinnamon pull-aparts in a glass 8×8 baking dish without the parchment paper if you plan on serving straight from the pan. If using the glass pan, you will want to lightly spray the glass baking dish with baker’s spray. You must check for doneness about 5 minutes earlier if using the glass pan.
- The frosting was piped using a piping bag in the recipe, but a zip-top bag with the corner snipped off will work just as well. You can also use a spoon to drizzle the frosting or spread it over the entire top like you would for traditional cinnamon rolls.
How to Store Papa John’s Cinnamon Pull Aparts
- To Store: These cinnamon pull-aparts are best served while still warm. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- To Reheat: You can reheat the cinnamon pull-aparts in the microwave for 15-30 seconds or until warmed through.
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Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread
Serves — 8
Papa John's Cinnamon Pull Aparts are an easy copycat. Featuring fresh baked bite-sized dough balls coated in cinnamon sugar, covered with crumbles, and topped with frosting.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 23 minutes
Total Time 38 minutes
Ingredients
Crumble topping
- 2½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Cinnamon pull-aparts
- 1 pound ball of fresh pizza dough cut into 1-inch pieces and rolled into balls
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
Cream cheese frosting
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened to room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line an 8×8-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper. Be sure to leave enough parchment paper to overhang the sides to make lifting the cinnamon pull-aparts out of the pan easily.
- In a small bowl, make the crumble topping by stirring together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter until your mixture comes together as a crumble. Set aside.2½ tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon light brown sugar, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- To make the cinnamon pull-aparts, you will need to cut your fresh pizza dough ball into roughly 25 small pieces, then roll them in the palm of your hand into balls.1 pound ball of fresh pizza dough
- In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Place the melted butter in a second small bowl.2 teaspoons cinnamon, ½ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup unsalted butter
- Drop 3-4 dough balls into the melted butter and roll around to evenly coat them.
- Transfer the butter-coated dough balls to the bowl of cinnamon sugar and roll to evenly coat them in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place the coated dough balls into the prepared baking pan in a single layer.
- Repeat steps 5-6 until all the dough balls have been coated and placed into the baking pan.
- Evenly sprinkle the reserved crumble topping over the prepared dough balls.
- Bake for 23-26 minutes or until the cinnamon pull-aparts are golden and bubbly. Allow them to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before lifting them out of the pan (using the parchment paper overhang) and transfer them to a serving plate or cutting board.
- While the cinnamon pull-aparts are baking and cooling, you can make the cream cheese frosting by beating together the softened butter and softened cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth and fluffy.4 tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 ounces cream cheese
- Add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar and beat again until fully combined and smooth. Add the heavy cream and beat for an additional 1-2 minutes or until the frosting is smooth and has a pipeable consistency. You do not want it too thick, but thick enough to be piped. Transfer to a piping bag with the tip cut off.½ teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 cup powdered sugar, 2-3 teaspoons heavy whipping cream
- Once the cinnamon pull-aparts have been transferred to a serving plate, you can pipe a criss-cross pattern of the cream cheese frosting onto the top of the pull-aparts.
Jenn’s Notes
Storage:
- To Store: These cinnamon pull-aparts are best served while still warm. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- To Reheat: You can reheat the cinnamon pull-aparts in the microwave for 15-30 seconds or until warmed through.
- Papa John’s cinnamon pull-aparts are served with a cream cheese frosting; however, you can use a standard powdered sugar glazed if desired for yours.
- I like to get my fresh pizza dough balls from the bakery section of my local grocery store. You can also get them from your favorite local pizzeria. Do not allow the dough to proof and rise before cutting it into small pieces.
- If you can not find the fresh pizza dough, you can use a 1-pound loaf of frozen yeast bread dough (thawed according to package directions) as a great substitute. You can find them in either single packs or 3-packs in the frozen bread section of your grocery store (it is near the garlic bread in my store). If using this substitute, you will only thaw the bread and not allow it to proof and rise as if you were baking as a loaf.
- You can bake these cinnamon pull-aparts in a glass 8×8 baking dish without the parchment paper if you just plan on serving straight from the pan. You will want to lightly spray the glass baking dish with baker’s spray if using the glass pan. You will need to check for doneness about 5 minutes earlier if using the glass pan.
- The frosting was piped using a piping bag in the recipe, but a zip-top bag with the corner snipped off will work just as well. You can also use a spoon to drizzle the frosting or even just spread it over the entire top like you would for traditional cinnamon rolls.
Nutrition Info
Calories: 406kcal | Carbohydrates: 60g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 463mg | Potassium: 33mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 34g | Vitamin A: 464IU | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 2mg
