Chinese New Year: 2016 Year of the Monkey Plus Monkey Bread Recipe

This post may contain affiliate links. The Review Wire may collect a share of sales if you decide to shop from them. Please see my full disclosure policy for details.

For the Year of the Monkey, the Chinese New Year brings festive traditions and celebrations—but how do you know when it begins?

First, you need to understand how the Chinese zodiac works.  The date of the Chinese New Year varies by about a month from the “traditional” New Year because it follows the “Celestial cycle” of 12 years. This is why Chinese New Year’s Day differs from year to year. The Chinese New Year always follows the second new moon after the winter solstice. The winter solstice is always on December 21; the next new moon in 2016 will be on January 10, with the second new moon on February 8. Thus, February 8 begins 2016’s Chinese New Year!

Unlike many other calendars, the Chinese calendar repeats names every 60 years. Within that system is a shorter 12-year celestial cycle, denoted by animals. 2016 is the year of the MONKEY. More precisely, the FIRE MONKEY.

What Animal Are You?

Do you ever remember sitting down in a Chinese restaurant and looking at the paper placemats to see what “animal” you are based on your birth year, according to the Chinese zodiac? I remember having many conversations with my family and friends about which animal we were assigned, and the characteristics of each one. The MONKEY is ranked 9th of all animals in the Chinese zodiac. MONKEYS are clever animals and are frequently compared to smart people. With 2016 being the year of the MONKEY, here are some interesting characteristics of MONKEY people.

RELATED: Year of the Snake 2025 Activity Pages

The Fire Monkey

MONKEYS are considered to be lively, flexible, and versatile. They love moving and sports. The FIRE MONKEY is the most active and aggressive of the MONKEYS (There are 5 monkey signs, and they align with the elements: metal, water, wood, fire & earth). FIRE MONKEYS are naturally dominant, gravitate toward leadership roles, and are competitive in whatever they do. Be cautious, though, FIRE MONKEYS; you tend to be overbearing and impulsive, often leaping where angels fear to tread. This can lead to reckless behavior that sometimes doesn’t work in your favor. Practice a little more patience, FIRE MONKEY…it will be good for you.

Monkey Bread

RELATED: Year of the Fire Horse 2026 Activity Pages

So, with that said, FIRE MONKEY, you should take the lead on Chinese New Year’s Day and make your family and friends a scrumptious breakfast dessert called MONKEY BREAD. For this delicious recipe, you will need:

• 3 -16oz packages of refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter (bring to room temperature)
• 3/4 cup of white sugar
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 2 tsp. of ground cinnamon
• 1 gallon Ziploc bag
• 1 Bundt pan
• Pam cooking spray

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2.  Spray the Bundt pan with Pam cooking spray
3. Separate the biscuits and cut into quarters
4. Combine sugar & cinnamon in the Ziploc bag, seal it, and shake to mix the two ingredients
5. Once mixed, add all the biscuit quarters to the bag. Shake the bag vigorously until all of the pieces of biscuit are coated with the sugar/cinnamon mixture
6. After all of the biscuits are coated, place all of the pieces into the sprayed Bundt pan
7. In the microwave, melt the butter & brown sugar together. Do in 30-second intervals, stirring each time. DO NOT BURN THE BUTTER!
8. Once melted together, stir the mixture until it turns a dark brown and the sugar has dissolved
9. Pour the mixture all over the dough in your pan. Smoosh all of the pieces of dough down into the butter/brown sugar mixture so that everything gets nice and coated
10. Bake for 35 minutes (times may vary based on your oven) or until the dough is cooked through
11. Remove from oven and invert onto a serving plate (Warning: this could get a bit messy)
12. Serve this gooey, delicious treat warm. Enjoy!

Feel free to add your own ingredients, like pecans, raisins, cranberries, etc.

***If you are in a hurry, an even quicker way to make this bread is to use 3 cans of cinnamon rolls (instead of rolling plain dough in the sugar/cinnamon mixture)

Written By: Jackie Palmer