PERRYSBURG – Barbara Hall ranks among the most popular members of each of the bridge clubs to which she
belongs.
While her bridge-playing skills are perfectly respectable, even she suspects the real reason for her
popularity.
It has a lot to do with her constant willingness to feed their sweet tooths.
"I bake and share what I bake with the Tuesday night duplicate bridge players in Perrysburg."
We’re not talking about an occasional "taking my turn" kind of donation.
No, Hall brings a delectable baked item every single time the club meets.
"I don’t do anything original," she insists, modestly.
That hardly matters to the others. Her reliable flood of "brownies, cookies, banana bread" is
something they’ve come to count on.
"I just vary the type of cookie; sometimes the brownie are frosted, sometimes they’re not."
Other members bring treats, too, just not as consistently.
"I started a few years ago – I don’t know when, exactly."
Hall says the real reason is tied to her empty-nester status.
When she and husband Neal saw their son and daughter grow up and leave the nest, it became harder to
justify whipping up baking goods. Still, her own sweet tooth needed to be fed.
"I have a feeling every so often I want one piece of cake, or one brownie, and I’ll have leftovers.
When you’re just two people, a 9-by-13 pan is a lot, and you don’t want to throw them out or let them
get dry.
"So I decided to bring it to bridge.
To this day, "every Tuesday I take something to duplicate bridge – some kind of treat."
Hall paused, then chuckled.
"Now, they don’t let me win," but they do "really seem to appreciate it."
Two weeks ago Hall saw everyone’s eyes light up when she entered with a heaping, butter-and-cinnamon
sugar glazed platter of monkey bread.
She took home only the empty pan.
Hall knew from past experience to expect that response to her monkey bread.
"I’m thinking back to the first time I made it, in 1990 or 1991. My son Robert was in high school;
it was for a high school potluck."
Everyone loved it. "People asked for the recipe."
While not a Wood County native, Hall feels like one by now. Her family moved to Bowling Green when she
started fifth grade. She was Barb Keefe then, and her dad was the tennis coach at the university.
She earned a degree in education from BGSU in 1967 and was married right after graduation. The couple
moved to Maryland, where she taught high school English for two years, then returned to Wood County when
Neal started graduate school.
"We moved to Perrysburg in 1971 and I got a job at Perrysburg High School teaching English."
Her teaching career ended after five years, but the love affair with Perrysburg continues to this day.
When she brought her monkey bread to the Perrysburg bridge club the other week she decided to save time
and bring copies of the recipe along with her.
To the best of her memory, the recipe originally appeared in Woman’s Day magazine. But she’s since
modified it.
"I tweak it a little in that I only use butter" although the original version calls for either
butter or margarine.
Also, Hall uses only buttermilk refrigerated biscuits. Her personal preference is Pillsbury brand.
"And I cook it 40 minutes, as opposed to 45, and that’s all it needs, I’ve found."
Hall also belongs to a girls’ bridge group, and has made monkey bread for them as well.
"Everybody likes it; I just don’t make it that often."
Now that her secret is out, that may have to change.
Besides being frankly addictive, monkey bread is so easy. It only involves four ingredients.
"Everything you have in your house. Probably right now you could make monkey bread. You don’t have
to frost it, don’t have to decorate it – just bake it."
Besides, with its bubbly, almost goofy appearance, it’s just plain fun for adults and kids alike.
The original recipe called for preparing a single bag of cinnamon-sugar mixture into which the cut-up
dough pieces are shaken. But the Halls have found it pays to divide the sugar into two bags. When
there’s just one it gets too "gunky" after awhile, so have one in reserve.
Be prepared for the dough to rise impressively.
"I’ve never had it overflow, but it will rise!"
Also, as simple as the recipe is, allow enough preparation time.
"I think it takes as much time to put it together as it does to bake it. So allow 30-40 minutes for
cutting all the biscuits in those cans into four pieces," using a sharp knife.
The dough pieces can be dipped into a small pan of melted butter using either a slotted spoon or your
fingers.
MONKEY
BREAD
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 cans (7.5 oz., 10 biscuits each) refrigerated biscuits
3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Lightly grease a 12-cup fluted tube pan.
Mix sugar and cinnamon in two large plastic bags.
Working with 1 can at a time, remove, separate and cut each individual biscuit into 4 equal pieces.
Coat pieces with melted butter. Add pieces to bag of sugar-cinnamon mixture. Close bag and shake to coat.
Gently press pieces into prepared pan, layering on top of each other.
Repeat with remaining cans of biscuits.
Bake 40 minutes until browned; check near center with toothpick ? should come out clean.
Remove from oven and immediately invert pan onto serving plate.
Remove pan. Serve monkey bread warm.
Makes 16 servings
Per serving: 321 calories, 4 grams protein, 56 grams carbohydrates, 10 grams fat, 27 mg. cholesterol with
butter, 0 mg. cholesterol with margarine, 555 mg. sodium.
