Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Craving the cinnamon roll taste without all the work?  Try these cinnamon roll pancakes.  They are fast and pretty simple to make...and taste delicious!!

You'll have to whip up 3 different parts to this recipe, none of which is difficult.  There's the pancake batter, the cinnamon mixture, and then the icing to drizzle on the top.

Pancake Ingredients:

2 c. flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Cinnamon Mixture:

1 stick of butter, melted
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Icing:

(Fast version)--powdered sugar thinned out by milk to your desired thickness for drizzling; can add a splash of vanilla

(Slower version)--1 stick of butter, 4 oz. cream cheese, 1 1/2 c. powdered sugar and a splash of vanilla

Before making this recipe, there are a few tips I want to provide for you so that your experience is a good one.  First of all, I highly recommend using a flat griddle meant for pancakes.  Secondly, heat the griddle in advance, but only heat it to (and keep it at) a med-low setting or else you will risk burning the cinnamon sugar mixture on your griddle. Wait until the pancakes have "set" and are bubbly before adding the cinnamon mixture to the top of them, or else the cinnamon mixture will immediately run off onto the griddle, leaving you with a bit of a mess.  If necessary, you can easily clean the surface of your griddle between every few batches of pancakes if the cinnamon mixture starts to get messy.  You may need to run hot water over your spatula if the cinnamon mixture sticks to it and starts to build up a sugary layer.

Don't let the above tips deter you from wanting to try these pancakes; they're delicious!  And I'm just sharing what I've learned via trial and error so that you will have a less "exciting" time making these pancakes yourself! :)

The first thing I do, is to get the cinnamon mixture ready to go.  Microwave the butter until it's melted, then add the brown sugar and cinnamon, stirring well.

You might want to get the icing started at this point, too.  Especially if you're using the more involved recipe (which is worth it!).  For that one, simply melt the butter in a pan over low heat, add the softened cream cheese until it's more or less melted, then add the powdered sugar and vanilla, stirring until a smooth icing has formed.  Keep the icing warm so that you are able to drizzle it over the pancakes.

Next you'll want to put together the pancake batter.  Combine the dry ingredients, stirring them up until they are combined, then add the wet ingredients, stirring until the batter is fairly smooth.  There will be some small lumps, but that is okay.

Place the pancake batter on your preheated griddle:

While the batter starts to cook, place the cinnamon mixture into a Ziploc bag.  I typically use the gallon-sized freezer bags as they are thicker and less likely to break right in the middle of use.  Once the pancakes have set a bit and are bubbly on the top, you'll want to add the cinnamon mixture to the top of the pancakes.  Snip a small corner from the Ziploc bag and use that to dispense the cinnamon.

It's fun to watch the cinnamon swirl start to melt into the pancake as it cooks.

Once the pancake looks fairly "dry" at the edges, go ahead and carefully flip the pancakes so that the other side can be cooked.  Once that's done, it's time to place the pancake onto a plate and drizzle it with the icing.

Drizzle with the icing and serve it up to your happy family! :)