Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

If you want to play the 'martyr card' this Mother's Day and make your family a delicious breakfast, even though they're supposed to be pampering you, this is a good place to start.

These pancakes are amazing. I bookmarked the recipe, and then made a big production about them to my kids, telling them I was making them a special Saturday morning treat because they were good kids and I love 'em. But really, I just wanted to try them. See if they were as good as they looked. And they're better.  They taste just like Cinnamon Rolls in pancake form. So I guess that means they're appropriately named.

I don't want to be bossy about what you do in your kitchen, but you really should put these on your short list.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes Recipe
(Adapted from Recipegirl)

For the pancakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
2 Tablespoons canola oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

For the Cinnamon Swirl:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 Teaspoons ground cinnamon

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large glass measuring cup, whisk milk, oil and eggs. Add to dry ingredients and mix until batter is moistened, a few lumps will remain.

In a separate bowl, melt butter. Add brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour the filling into a small zip-loc bag, seal and set aside. Some of the butter will separate and rise to the top, just let it, don't fight it. I discarded it. This swirl mixture needs to be the consistency of toothpaste.

Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Spray with nonstick spray. Scoop about 1/2 cup of the batter onto the skillet. Cut the corner of your bag 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, large spatula, and turn the heat to low to cook the underside. The higher heat will burn the sugar before the pancake has a chance to finish cooking. 

This will take 1 to 2 minutes. I pressed down on mine with the spatula and judged its 'done-ness' when it was no longer 'squishy'.  Transfer to a baking sheet or platter and keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.

I rinsed out my pan after each batch, which was necessary to avoid the sugar from turning black and scorching the pancakes. I know what you're thinking but it was totally worth the extra work.

Serve with butter and maple syrup.