The best way to celebrate on a weekend morning is to make these Cinnamon Roll Pancakes! These fluffy, perfect pancakes are swirled with a cinnamon- sugar mixture and topped with a cream cheese drizzle. They’re awesome!!!
Watch the short video showing you how to make these Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, then scroll to the bottom of this post and print out the recipe so you can make them at home.
National Pancake Day
If you’ve ever thought you needed a reason to eat pancakes, today is the day: National Pancake Day!
Eat a short stack for breakfast, enjoy them for lunch, or make a dinner out a manhole-sized pancake… guilt free… because you’re merely celebrating their existence.
How do you like your pancakes? Buttermilk? Sweet Potato?
Whole Grain? Fruit topped? Whipped Cream?
What are the best pancakes?
I don’t usually care for any of that fancy stuff, but I can tell with absolute certainty that over-cooked, crusty pancakes have no place in my world. I like my pancakes fluffy.
And sometimes I like slices of banana cooked inside. A good dose of real maple syrup is what I prefer to drizzle on top.
But recently I started dreaming about mixing cinnamon rolls and pancakes together… and this is what I came up with- my new favorite pancake: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes. Here are some tips for how to be successful with these!
How do you make Cinnamon Roll Pancakes?
When you make cinnamon roll pancakes, it’s not much more difficult than making regular pancakes, but it’s a little more messy because of the cinnamon swirl. Follow the tips below, and you’ll have some great pancakes. NOTE: these take a little practice to get just right!
Tips explained:
- use a nonstick skillet or griddle: these are sticky, so if you can do anything to help prevent extreme stickiness then do it!
- use a thin metal spatula for flipping: because they’re a bit precarious, a thin spatula will work best.
- use an ice cream scoop for the batter: this just makes it easier to measure so they’re all similarly sized.
- allow pancake to cook and form bubbles before adding swirl: you don’t want the swirl to have time to melt into the batter, so adding it at the last minute will help it stay intact.
- the cinnamon swirl must be thick: thin swirl will run all over the place.
- don’t get the swirl too close to the edge of the pancake- see photo above!
- flip the pancake smoothly and quickly: so the swirl will stay in place!
- wipe pan between pancakes: or the sugar in the pan may burn.
I have a wonderfully fluffy pancake batter that I like to use (recipe below) so I swirl a bit of cinnamon roll filling into the pancake.
And they cook up just like a pancake- fluffy, but with craters of crusty, sugary cinnamon swirled within.
You might find three of these stacked in a fancy breakfast restaurant, but I’m gonna tell you that one pancake is all you need.
It’s like eating a cinnamon roll, and no one needs more than one cinnamon roll for breakfast. Or certainly no more than two 😉
See, just like a cinnamon roll. Love this. I can eat this pancake just as you see it, but you really need to add the glaze to get the full cinnamon roll-effect. Read on…
Oh yeah. A warmed cream cheese glaze drizzled on top really completes this pancake. No syrup needed.
Let me say that again: No. Syrup. Needed.
There you have it: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with lots of ooey, gooey cream cheese glaze drizzled on top.
Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a pancake today. Go get ’em.
These babies are just like eating a cinnamon roll, which is a perfectly okay… once in a while, right?
I mean, it’s not like I put chocolate chip cookie dough in them or anything. Hmmmm.
If you’re coming here to sample these delicious Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, you just might like the latest recipe that I’ve posted for Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes and Gingerbread- Cinnamon Roll Pancakes too.
And if you just love pancakes in general, you must try The Best Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes and Peanut Butter- Chocolate Chip Pancakes. Enjoy!
Cinnamon Roll Pancakes
Recipe Details
Ingredients
CINNAMON FILLING:
- 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, just melted (not boiling)
- 6 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:
- 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter
- 2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
PANCAKES:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
Instructions
PREPARE CINNAMON FILLING:
- In a medium bowl, stir together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a quart-sized heavy zip baggie and set it aside (see *Tips below).
PREPARE GLAZE:
- In a small pan, heat the butter over low heat until melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cream cheese until it is almost smooth. Sift the powdered sugar into the pan, stir and add in vanilla extract. Set the pan aside while you make the pancakes.
PREPARE PANCAKE BATTER:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the milk, egg and oil, just until the batter is moistened (a few small lumps are fine).
COOK THE PANCAKES:
- Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium-heat and spray with nonstick spray. Use an ice cream scoop (or ⅓ cup measuring cup) to add the batter to the pan. Use the bottom of the scoop or cup to spread the batter into a circle (about 4-inches in diameter). Reduce the heat to medium low. Snip the corner of your baggie of cinnamon filling and squeeze the filling into the open corner. When your pancake begins to form bubbles, add the filling. Starting at the center of the pancake, squeeze the filling on top of the pancake batter in a swirl (just as you see in a regular cinnamon roll). Cook the pancake 2 to 3 minutes, or until the bubbles begin popping on top of the pancake and it's golden brown on the bottom. Slide a thin, wide metal spatula underneath the pancake and gently but quickly flip it over. Cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes, until the other side is golden as well. When you flip the pancake onto a plate, you will see that the cinnamon filling has created a crater-swirl of cinnamon. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, and repeat with the remaining pancake batter and cinnamon filling. Re-warm the glaze briefly, if needed. Serve pancakes topped with a drizzle of glaze.
Video
Notes
TIPS:
- *Quick and easy tip: Use a boxed pancake mix as the base for this recipe.
- *Tips for the cinnamon filling: Before swirling, open up the baggie again and give it a good stir to re-incorporate any butter that may have separated from the sugar. You want the mixture to thicken a bit- it's best when it's similar to the squeezing texture of a tube of toothpaste, which will happen if you leave it at room temperature for several minutes. Don't try to use the filling for the pancake swirl unless it has thickened as it will be too runny to make a solid swirl.
- *Keep the heat low or your pancakes might cook up too quickly. Don't flip them until you see those bubbles starting to pop on top. Flip them with a wide spatula so you can grasp the whole thing without batter and filling dripping all over the place!
- *I wrote a very detailed post on how to get the cinnamon filling *just right* on my Gingerbread- Cinnamon Roll Pancakes Post. Check it out before you attempt these!
- *If you're trying to justify your intake of decadent cinnamon rolls, you can make this a tad bit healthier by using half whole-wheat flour and low fat cream cheese, or enjoy the pancakes without glaze.
Just made them. Delicious!! We never actually sat down to eat them, ate each one as we were waiting for the next batch to finish.
Lori, these were absolutely amazing!
My family loved them…what a treat we had this morning…Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this recipe!!
I can’t wait to make them again soon 🙂
Absolutely delicious!! BUT i had to double the flour. The pancakes were extremely runny. Ive never seen a pancake recipe with a 1:1 flour and milk. I made mine 2:1. Now if only i could make mine as pretty as yours!
Double? How strange!
This recipe is soooo scrumptious!!! Thank you so much! 🙂 My mom loved it too, but unfortunately she’s a diabetic so she can’t have sugar. Any idea for a substitution for the brown sugar pleease???
I have no idea.. I’m not used to cooking sugar free!
Made them for breakfast and they were absolutely delicious!! ? Sadly they ruined my pan and spatula though 🙁 Any idea on how to remove all that sticky hardened sugar??
Soak in water!
Fantastic! And you solved my problem: I couldn’t decide today whether to make pancakes or cinnamon rolls.
So I’m in the process of making these right now! They smell awesome! But… with how thick the filling is, I can’t get it to swirl! I just get a glob here and a glob there.. any suggestions?
Soften slightly in the microwave. When you can manage to get a toothpaste consistency, it’s perfect!
GENIUS. Pure. Genius.
Just made this and I’m having them now! Delicious!! thank you!:)
We’re going to make these for our employee breakfast luncheon next week! Thanks for showing us these!
OH. MY. GERD.
Lady, you win the internet. ALL OF IT.
This morning I was craving cinnamon buns and pancakes, I Googled ‘cinnamon bun pancakes’ and BAM. You rolled onto the scene and WON.
For anyone that thinks ‘hm, this looks like a lot of work’, just do it. It’s so incredibly worth it. These were actually pretty easy, and turned out perfectly. The little cinnamon ‘grave swirls’ made crunchy, sugary glaze traps. When I served these up I said “No syrup on these. SERIOUSLY. I love you and I’m concerned for your health. No syrup.” My audience was not disappointed. We all rolled away from the table satisfied.
These are so good I might have to make them as a dessert for something. Totally mindblowing. Bravo, Lori, bravo.
your comment made me laugh. So glad you liked these!
I just made this for breakfast and it was beyond tasty!
I have a problem with gluten so I used “Pamela’s gluten free pancake mix” for batter, and I used plain Greek yogurt because I didn’t have cream cheese.
It came out moist and tasty and my family loved it!!
Thank you so much for sharing the wonderful recipe!
I just made these pancakes for my children and they loved them. Thank you for all the step by step, it just made it easier. I did everything as directed with the only difference that I used smart balance butter, splenda brown sugar and low fat cream cheese. Other than that they were delicious. I love all your recipes.
These work better as a dessert. My BF made them for breakfast one morning as an anniversary surprise but they were so sweet we could only have a couple. And ended up being hungry two hours later of course!
These pancakes remind me of those Cinnabon rolls. But I can make these at home! Can’t wait to try these pancakes on Saturday morning!
These sound yummy. Can’t wait to try them – maybe this afternoon for a snack…..
I made these this morning for the first time, for my wife’s birthday. They were amazing! I cannot wait to try the gingerbread version.
I cooked these pancakes this morning but instead of making pancake batter I used pancake mix that requires only water. Using store bought batter will save you time, money, and works just as well.
I made these for breakfast today and they were GREAT! So easy and quick. Every single one of my 6 kids loved them – even the kids who don’t like pancakes!
I made these and they were so delicious! I encountered a few problems though. My cinnamon filling did not thicken and my cream cheese glaze ended up getting hard within a few seconds of warming / layering it on the pancakes.
Is it because I did NOT use unsalted butter? I also used dark brown sugar versus “brown sugar.”???
It’s a tricky recipe indeed- I don’t think it has anything to do with the butter or sugar you used.
I made these for the first time a year ago and now every time I see my sister I have to make them for breakfast ! It is her new favorite pancakes ! Love this recipe !
I’ve been wanting to try these for ages. The recipie just looked so incredibly delicious – and they absolutely were! The crispy carmellized sugar was amazing. I had to miss out on the cream cheeze, because I didn’t have any at home, but when I make these again, I’m totally making that too.
One thing though, (and this may well be a conversion problem. I had to convert all the measurements to metric, since I live in Europe.) I think the batter turned out a little thick for me. I don’t really have a good frame of reference, since my usual pancake batter is usually closer to crêpes consistency. I added some more milk after the first batch, but the pancakes still didn’t really produce any visible bubbles when cooking and the cinnamon filling didn’t really ‘sink into’ the pancake as seen in your photos. What kind of consitency should I be aiming for? (Oh man, this is going to be hard to describe, I’m sorry.) 😉
The pancakes aren’t terribly thin- I’d characterize them into a more “fluffy” category. The batter is fairly thick.
THESE WERE AWESOME!!!!!!!!! Me and my 4 grandkids (ages 2 – 12) were moaning and groaning. Thanks so much!!
This recipe was terrible. I’ve been cooking for a long time, and when I saw this recipe, I thought it was adorable and tasty-looking and the reviews seemed great, so I decided to try it out. Nothing but frustration.
The cinnamon filling started out fine, but when it came to putting it on the pancakes, it was a disaster. No matter how much I mixed the filling, when I squeezed it out of the bag, a little thin layer always dripped out, making my pancakes less cinnamon roll-looking. Also, when I flipped the pancake over onto the side that had the filling, the filling just cooked off onto the pan. It didn’t even stay on the pancake. I had to squirt all of it onto the pancakes when they when the time came to eat them.
The cream cheese icing didn’t go so well either. When I put the cream cheese into the pot with the butter, it was all separated, no matter how much I mixed it. As a revision, I added a little milk, which was exactly what it needed.
The pancake batter was okay, but it was really thin, in which I had to cook one pancake at a time in my biggest skillet (Again, my BIGGEST skillet!).
It’s not that the flavoring was bad (It was actually a delicious recipe.), it was just the techniques that were falsely given.
My suggestions: (1) Don’t even add the filling to the pancakes while they’re cooking. Just cook the pancakes by themselves, then drizzle the filling on them when served. (2) Add a touch of milk to the icing. It brings everything together and makes the icing really creamy. (3) If preferred, make the pancake batter thicker. They’ll be more fluffy (Although, the pancakes I ate from this recipe were pretty moist, but it was probably the icing and drizzled filling that made it so.).
I hope this helps others who want to use this recipe.
Sorry it did not work for you. The recipe does definitely work as written (we make it often in our house), but it can be tricky for some.
Oh my goodness! I just made these for dinner. They are soo good! The pancakes themselves are fluffy too. Such a simple recipe yet so very tasty.