I must confess, there were some moments in the making of these pancakes that were a little less than perfect. I think I made every mistake possible while making them, so I’m sharing my secrets with all of you so you don’t have to go through all the frustration that I did! My younger daughter turned six last week, and I got up early on her birthday, all set to make pancakes. My husband had bought a new griddle for me a few weeks ago, and I figured it would be the perfect way to try it out. I cranked the griddle up, mixed up my pancake batter, and drizzled the cinnamon swirl, and then… catastrophe! The pancakes started burning and smoking, and the cinnamon mixture splattered all of the griddle and splashed hot molten brown sugar onto my hands, leaving behind some pretty gnarly burns. My pancakes burned to the griddle, and I tried to scrape them off and left a black, sticky, gross mess behind. I threw my spatula across the kitchen (yes, I’m very mature) and sat down to cry over my failure of a birthday breakfast. A few minutes later, I regained my composure and decided it was time to act like a grown up, and mixed up a new batch. This time, I kept the griddle low so the pancakes wouldn’t cook so fast. I also put my brown sugar cinnamon mixture into a squeeze bottle so I could shake it up before drizzling and it would come out in a consistent stream instead of splattering everywhere. And guess what? They turned out perfect! Birthday crisis averted. My newly minted six year old was completely thrilled with her cinnamon roll pancakes, and said they were the very best she’s ever had. Score one for Mom!
I was inspired by these cinnamon roll pancakes, but changed the ingredients just a little to suit my tastes. I love how simple and easy these pancakes are to make, once you figure out the tricks of the trade!
Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
The full recipe is at the bottom of this post, but here’s what you’ll need:
brown sugar cinnamon butter cream cheese powdered sugar flour baking powder salt egg milk vanilla oil
You’ll start by mixing together your cinnamon swirl mixture, and your cream cheese glaze. You’ll want those to be ready to go when you start cooking the pancakes. The cinnamon mixture definitely wants to separate, so I found it helpful to put it in a squeeze bottle for swirling. If you don’t have a squeeze bottle, you could use a piping bag instead, and just shake it or knead it when you’re ready to use it.
The pancake batter is straightforward and easy to mix up. I like to let it sit for a few minutes so it can thicken just slightly before I start scooping it.
I found I had a lot more success when I let the pancake batter cook until it was almost done before adding the cinnamon swirl. Wait until they’re getting some bubbles around the edges, then drizzle it on quick! To me, drizzling the pancakes was definitely the most challenging part. Just remember to shake your cinnamon sugar mixture to mix it well. My squeeze bottle went a little crazy, so I didn’t have a perfectly smooth swirl, but when the pancakes were cooked, it looked pretty perfect anyway!
The cinnamon sugar mixture adds just a little crunch to the texture of the pancakes, and adds a lot of awesome cinnamon flavor too. I also think it creates such a fun effect with the swirl!
When the pancakes are finished, remove them from the griddle and drizzle on your amazing cream cheese glaze. The glaze is sweet and decadent and really takes these pancakes over the top. Yum!
These cinnamon roll pancakes are definitely the way to anyone’s heart. Just be prepared to make them again and again, since everyone will fall in love with them!
The recipe is a little small, so if you’re making them for a crowd, I would definitely recommend doubling it. I got about twelve pancakes from the batch, which was the perfect amount for my little family of two adults and two kids.
These cinnamon roll pancakes taste just like a cinnamon roll, and are topped with a to-die-for cream cheese glaze. They’re so delicious and easy to make too!