Family, Food, and Fun: Chocolate Chip Pull Apart Bread

This month I had the pleasure of being assigned to The Tasty Cheapskate for the Secret Recipe Club, where Jeanie highlights frugal recipes, eating well, and uses lots of butter. I know we'd be great friends!
And she even has 4 kiddos, around the same age as mine. She's got a great sense of humor and is very entertaining to read....and man, does she have some fantastic recipes.

I had such a hard time picking one to make for today.....with choices like Brownies with Browned Butter Frosting (I am SO making those....soon.), No-Rise Cinnamon Rolls with Blueberry Filling , Double Chocolate Breakfast Cookies (yes, yes, yes!) and Diana's Apple Cake of Awesomeness (which I actually made, and it was delicious!).

I ended up settling on this pull-apart bread - because I have been wanting to try different versions of pull-apart bread for months and hadn't gotten around to it.

So it's basically a sweet and tender yeast dough, rolled flat and brushed with butter, coated with cinnamon and sugar, and sprinkled with chocolate chips. You cut it into strips, stack them on top of each other, cut the stack into sections, and stick them in a loaf pan. Once it's baked, you slather it with a lovely cream cheese frosting and try to keep from eating the whole loaf before dinner.

I only have two things that I will change the next time I make this....

First, I'll add a little salt to the dough, maybe half a teaspoon. I think all yeast doughs need a little bit of salt. I'm changing the recipe to reflect that preference.

Second, I won't sprinkle the chocolate chips on until I'm stacking the strips of dough....because they all just kept falling off when I moved the strips.

Thanks, Jeanie, for such a scrumptious bread, and I love your blog and great collection of recipes!

Chocolate Chip Pull-Apart Bread (adapted slightly from The Tasty Cheapskate)

Bread:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1 T. yeast
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
2-3/4 cups flour (plus a little more if necessary)
1/2 tsp. salt

Filling:
1/4 cup butter, softened or melted
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
2/3 cup chocolate chips, chopped

Frosting:
1/2 package cream cheese (4 oz), softened
2-1/2 T. butter, softened
1/2 T. sour cream (optional)
1/2 cup plus 2 T. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

To make the dough, heat milk, butter, and water together in microwave or on the stove until the butter melts. Cool (if necessary) to about 110°.
Mix in sugar and yeast. Add beaten eggs and vanilla and stir well.
Stir in 1 cup flour. Then add the second cup. Knead in an electric mixer with the dough hook or turn out to a floured surface and knead by hand. Add additional flour as necessary to make a slightly firm dough.

Put in a greased bowl, cover with greased wax paper or a wet towel, and let it rise until doubled, about an hour.

Once it's risen, punch it down, then put on a lightly floured surface and roll it out to about 12x20".
Spread softened or melted butter all over the dough.
Combine the sugars and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the top.

Cut the dough into 6 even strips. Sprinkle some chocolate chunks on the bottom strip, then top with another strip. Sprinkle that strip with chocolate and top with another strip. Continue until you have one nice stack.
Cut the stack into 6 equal chunks.
Place the chunks in a greased 8x5" bread pan with the cut sides up.

Let rise for 20-40 minutes. Place pan on a cookie sheet in case it overflows (mine did...maybe my pan was too small!) and bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes, or until browned and no longer gooey.
Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Loosen the sides and turn it onto a plate (right side up) to cool completely.

To make frosting, beat together the cream cheese, butter, and sour cream. Add vanilla. Beat in powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over bread while it's still warm.