Half Baked: #38: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

I love food. And people. And impressing people with food. I also love my boyfriend's family. So much so, I made them these AWESOME pancakes. Seriously, these things are a gift. Full of crunchy cinnamon sugar, cream cheesy goodness, my scale took a beating this morning when I stood on it to figure out the damage all of this weekend's delicious goodies caused (I don't wanna talk about it), but it was worth it. This one is a DEFINITE future family tradition. NOW, the real question is... how am I going to impress them after THIS recipe? Oye.

#38: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes (as found on recipegirl.com)

Ingredients:

PANCAKES:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten

CINNAMON FILLING:
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:
4 Tablespoons butter
2 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Prepare pancake batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in milk, oil and egg, just until batter is moistened (a few small lumps are fine).
- P.S. This is amazing batter on it's own. I'm going to have to try this plain sometime to see how it tastes with just syrup on top.

2. In a medium bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a small zip baggie and set aside. You don't want this to remain super-liquidy. It's best if it becomes a consistency similar to toothpaste.
- True story. I nuked the mixture for a little while in the microwave, and it ended up being too runny. When it came down to swirling the mixture in the pancake and cooking it on the griddle, the cinnamon sugar essentially just rolled off the pancake, making a mess on the skillet. Luckily it still TASTED bomb.com

3. In a medium, microwave-safe bowl- heat butter and cream cheese until melted. Whisk together until smooth; whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla extract; set aside.

4. Heat large skillet over medium-low heat. Spray with nonstick spray. Scoop about 3/4 cup batter onto the skillet. Snip the corner of your baggie of filling and squeeze a spiral of the filling onto the top of the pancake. When bubbles begin to appear on the surface, flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter and keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.
- Okay, so we didn't end up using any nonstick spray because there was already oil in the batter. I wouldn't pour 3/4 a cup on the griddle... the batter spread out pretty far, and then adding the cinnamon sugar only caused the pancake to spread out even more. I think our pancakes only ended up being like 4 inches across when we poured them on the griddle, and they turned out A LOT larger after cooking.

5. When ready to serve, spoon warmed glaze onto the top of each pancake.

YUMMY. And so stinkin' impressive. It just LOOKED gourmet. I am spoiling my friends and family... I seriously have no idea how I am going to continually top myself. Maybe they'll forgive me if I make it a tradition of making these bad boys...