Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

I saw these pancakes from Recipe Girl on Pinterest about a year or so ago and I have been eye-ing them ever since.  

On Saturday afternoon we decided that we were going to have Early Christmas on Sunday - well that didn't leave much time to plan what we were going to eat.  When I asked the Z-Squad what they wanted for Breakfast, they said pancakes....why do I even ask?  The always want pancakes. :)  

Well, even though we all LOVE the Cottage Cheese Pancakes, we wanted to mix it up and I thought - how perfect would these Cinnamon Roll Pancakes be for "Christmas" morning!  

I'd say these pancakes took me about 10 minutes longer than regular pancakes, but now that I've done it once, I'd say they'd only take about 5 minutes longer.  I'd be willing to sacrifice 5 minutes for some cinnamon rolls in the morning. :)

Te-Man Approved

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Cinnamon Filling
4 T butter, barely melted - not boiling
1/4 c brown sugar (heaping)
1/2 t cinnamon

Cream Cheese Glaze
4 T butter
2 oz cream cheese
3/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla

Pancakes
1 c all purpose flour (+ more if needed, I need an extra 1/2 c)
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 T oil (I used olive, but an use veg or canola also)

What To Do With It:
Prepare Cinnamon Filling - Stir together all ingredients and pour into a sturdy ziploc baggie.  Set aside.

Prepare Cream Cheese Glaze - Melt butter over low heat until completely melted.  Turn off heat and whisk in cream cheese until it is almost smooth.  Add powdered sugar and vanilla and stir until smooth.  Set aside.

Prepare Pancakes - Whisk together dry ingredients.  Add liquid ingredients and mix until combined.  Mine was not as thick as I'd like, so I added flour until it was my preferred consistency, that ended up being 1/2 c.

Cook Pancakes - Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat and grease.  Using approximately 1/4 c scoop, add batter to the pan.  Pancake should spread to roughly a 4" circle, if necessary, use spoon to spread out pancake batter.  Grab the cinnamon filling bag and mix well by squishing the bag in your hand.  Be sure it is well mixed!

When pancake begins to form bubbles, snip the corner off of the baggie and starting in the center of each pancake, pipe the filling in a spiral.  Be sure to keep the outermost spiral at least 1/4" from the edge of the pancake.

When pancake is golden brown on the bottom, gently but quickly, flip the pancake.  Cook until the second side is golden as well.

Flip swirl side up onto a plate.  Wipe out pan and repeat as necessary.

Serve topped with Glaze.

Yields 8-9 pancakes.

These pancakes were so fluffy, light, and fantastic!  Even on days when I'm not feeling like it's a cinnamon roll pancake day, this is my new go-to pancake batter.  WOW!