Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Yesterday was a lazy day so today is my first post of the year!!  ;)

Last night my youngest son, Max, had a friend sleepover so of course we have to have a special breakfast.  Pancakes were requested by Max and friend but my oldest, Zack, refuses to eat pancakes after a really bad experience in Santa Cruz that we won't discuss here on a food blog.  How to make pancakes not taste or look like pancakes??  I found this great idea on bigredkitchen.com for Cinnamon Roll Pancakes which I modified to our tastes.  Zack LOVES cinnamon rolls so I knew he would approve.

I suppose you could use a box mix for your pancakes, there are some great mixes out there.  I chose to make a very simple recipe for homemade pancakes because I have a lot of flour on hand after my holiday baking extravaganza.  Big Red Kitchen made a cream cheese icing which I would prefer but the boys are purists and only like plain powdered sugar icings on their cinnamon rolls.

As predicted, these were a hit!  Once I was able to surgically remove Zack from Xbox and get him to the kitchen table (no, you cannot eat in your room!)  he ate two and said they were even better than chocolate pancakes!  So far he is keeping them down ;-)!  Max and friend were happy to have sugar (since apparently there hasn't been enough sweets with Christmas and all) and are sufficiently amped up and ready to start a day of legos.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

pancake mix:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

cinnamon filling:

4 tablespoons melted butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix together and pour into a pastry bag with small tip or a strong ziplock bag with one corner snipped off.

icing:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons hot water

Mix together and pour into a pastry bag with small tip or a strong ziplock bag with one corner snipped off.

Use a griddle or nonstick pan over medium heat.  Brush melted butter to keep pancakes from sticking.  Ladle 1/4 cup pancake mix onto griddle.  Swirl cinnamon filling onto pancake.  Cook pancakes until bubbles form evenly on pancake.  Flip and cook another 20-30 seconds.  Remove pancake to plate and drizzle icing over it.  Continue with the rest of the batter, wiping down griddle between each pancake to remove filling drippings.

ENJOY!!

Recipe modified from bigredkitchen.com