Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze

Mar 11, 13 • Breakfast, Recipes • 2 Comments

Friends, food and family…three of my favorite things, not necessarily in that order, but for today they are. I was reading my emails, minding my own business when all of a sudden a “subject” popped up and caught my eye and I, being the good decipherer that I am, read: “Brefkast” which instantly translated to “Breakfast”. That, by itself, wasn’t what drove me to act, but once I open the email (from the friend), the title did catch my attention – Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze (the food). That was all it said, beside the recipe, of course. It was signed…Old Vernie (the friend). I checked with him. It’s not his own recipe. He said that he found it floating around Facebook, but didn’t remember where or when he got it. I don’t often make pancakes and almost never from scratch, but I had an extra child (Jake) in town, the recipe sounded yummy and I had everything the recipe called for, so I thought, why not? That may become my new catch phrase – why not, indeed! While this recipe included scratch pancakes, I think you could try these with pancake mix and get a similar taste.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze

(Makes 16 – 20 pancakes)

The Pancake Batter –

4 cups all-purpose flour

8 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

4 cups milk

4 Tablespoons vegetable oil

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

Mix the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder and salt – in a medium-sized bowl; stir together with a dry wisk. In a larger bowl, add eggs, milk and vegetable oil. Set aside while preparing the filling and glaze.

The Cinnamon Filling –

1 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 Tablespoons cinnamon

Melt butter in a small microwave-safe mixing bowl. Stir in the brown sugar and cinnamon, making sure to get any lumps dissolved. Put into a disposable piping bag and set aside. One thing that I did notice is that it was easier to make the swirl once the filling had cooled down a bit and was thicker. Don’t cut the tip off yet.

The Cream Cheese Glaze –

1/2 cup butter

4 ounces cream cheese

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt the butter and cream cheese in the microwave, starting at 30 seconds, then heating for 10 second intervals until soft enough to wisk it until smooth; add the vanilla and powdered sugar and mix. You might need to add a little milk (1 – 2 teaspoons) to get it to a glaze consistency; set aside. Now you can mix the dry ingredients with the milk mixture to make the pancake batter. Mix until everything is moistened, but you don’t need to get all the lumps out.

Heat your griddle/frying pan to medium heat. You don’t want the pancake batter to cook too fast because the batter is thick, it won’t cook all the way through and you don’t want the cinnamon to burn. Use a measuring cup to keep the pancakes similar size…if you don’t care, go ahead and free-style it! It is a little easier to get the swirlie-thingie going on the bigger pancakes. Pour the pancake batter into the pan and help it, if you need to, by spreading the thick batter a little. I did 1/2 cup and I wanted them a little bigger, so I made them 2/3 cup size.

Cut a small bit off the piping bag tip. Next, take the cinnamon filling and, starting in the center, pipe a good-sized cinnamon swirl.

The original recipe said to wait until you see lots of bubbles on the pancake, but I was cooking mine on a pretty low temperature, so I didn’t see many bubbles when I checked the underside of the pancake and it was ready to be flipped…go ahead and flip when the bottom is golden. You will see some of the cinnamon filling start to melt out around the edges. That’s okay, but you need to not over-cook or you’ll burn the filling.

When the pancake is done, go ahead and flip it filling-side up onto the plate. It will look like this –

Some of the cinnamon filling will have melted onto the pan, but there will still be a lot of buttery, brown sugary cinnamon flavor left! Wipe down your pan and re-spray the pan before cooking the next one. Now it’s time to spread the glaze. There will be a swirled line of craters where the glaze can fill in. You might need to warm the glaze up just a little along the process of getting all those pancakes cooked, but it is best to spread the glaze when the pancake is hot off the griddle/frying pan.

Don’t these look yummy? So delicious! My family was D-Y-I-N-G of starvation while they waited for me to cook these, but I think, in the end, it was worth the wait! It will be easier next time PLUS I’m already thinking that a caramel glaze with pecans (if desired) might be a tasty substitution!

Thank you friend, for sharing a random, but delicious, recipe; thank you, family, for not starving while waiting; and thanks to whomever out there posted this on Facebook in the first place!