Cinnamon ‘Bun’ Pancakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Cinnamon Buns meets Pancakes – Heaven for breakfast! These Cinnamon Bun Pancakes feature brown sugar, cinnamon, and just a touch of molasses, to create a tender, fluffy pancake whose flavor profile is immediately reminiscent of that classic cinnamon bun flavor! No fancy equipment, or extra steps are required to make these Cinnamon Bun Pancakes – the cinnamon, brown sugar, and molasses are added straight to the batter, making a pancake that is simple and delicious! These cinnamon bun pancakes are finished with some mandatory cream cheese frosting – to pull the whole thing together!
Making the Cinnamon Bun Pancakes
In developing this recipe, I decided that I wanted a cinnamon bun pancake that was going to be no-fuss – one that didn’t require any extra steps or syrups. I had seen other cinnamon bun pancake recipes that involved making a regular pancake, then making a separate cinnamon ‘filling’, which was then sort of piped into the cooking pancake. While these looked amazing, I knew I wanted an easier pancake, but still one that still carried all those flavors that would immediately scream ‘Cinnamon Bun’! As such, making this Cinnamon Bun Pancakes recipe is as easy as making any other pancake recipe.
1. Start by adding all the dry ingredients into a bowl: This means the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon. Whisk this all together to make sure its well combined.
2. Add the wet ingredients to a separate bowl: Basically the remaining ingredients – egg, milk, vanilla, oil, and molasses, go into a separate bowl, and are beaten well together. Ensure that it is all well incorporated, and you don’t see any visible chunks of egg white or yolk!
3. Pour the wet into the dry: Make a little well in the dry ingredients, then pour the wet into the dry. Now mix it up until it is all incorporated, but a few lumps are still visible! Try not to go overboard in the mixing and beat out all the lumps! By the time you will have beaten the lumps out of the batter, you will also have overmixed the batter and overdeveloped the gluten – which means a tough pancake. Uh no thanks! So long story short – lumps = good!
4. Optionally, give the batter a rest: If you’re willing to wait, allowing the pancake batter to rest for about 15-30 minutes will result in a more tender, fluffier Cinnamon Bun Pancake. The reasoning behind this is that this wait time allows any gluten that has developed to relax! Again though, this is optional!
5. Heat your non-stick pan on medium heat: The thing with pancakes is that they need to be cooked on medium-low to medium at the very highest! Don’t get impatient with pancakes, or else they simple won’t cook in the centre!
6. Fry those babies: Either by eyeballing the amount or using about ¼ cup of batter per pancake, pour the batter onto the lightly greased non-stick skillet. Fry each side around 2 to 3ish minutes. You’ll know the cinnamon bun pancake is ready to be flipped when a bunch of little bubbles are rising to the top and popping.
7. Serve hot with cream cheese frosting: I don’t think any explanation if needed here!
The CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Okay, if you’re like me, the whole point of eating regular cinnamon buns is for the cream cheese frosting on top! So making a cream cheese frosting for the Cinnamon Bun Pancakes was an absolute no-brainer! The cream cheese frosting, although sweet, provides a beautiful tart contrast to the warm flavors of these cinnamon bun pancakes, truly rounding out the flavors! To make the cream cheese frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium-high until they begin to look slightly fluffy, about 2 minutes. Then, add in the confectioners sugar in batches, continuing to beat on low, until well-combined. Add in the vanilla, mix to combine, then beat the frosting on high for 2-3 minutes. The frosting should look creamy and light. Now, you can leave the frosting as is, or you can thin it out a bit to make it more of a pourable consistency – it’s up to you! If you wish to have it as a thinner consistency, add heavy cream until that consistency has been achieved.
Get the Recipe: Cinnamon ‘Bun’ Pancakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cinnamon ‘Bun’ Pancakes
- 1 1/3 cup All-Purpose Flour, , measured correctly †
- 3 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Cinnamon
- 1 tbsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 ¼ cup Whole Milk
- 1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 tbsp Molasses
- 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1/2 cup Cream Cheese,, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter,, at room temperature
- 2 cups Confectioners Sugar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Pinch of Salt
- (Optional) Heavy Cream, to desired consistency
Instructions
Cinnamon Bun Pancakes
- Add flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and brown sugar into a bowl. Whisk together to combine. In a separate bowl, beat together milk, egg, vanilla, molasses, and oil, until well combined and smooth.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour the milk mixture in. Mix until just incorporated (a few lumps are fine), ensuring not to overmix.
- (Optional) Cover and allow to rest for 15-30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat a large greased pan over medium heat. When hot, drop dollops of batter onto pan. Pancakes are ready to be flipped when several bubbles begin to rise and pop out of the batter.
- Cook until both sides are golden brown, then serve hot with a dolloping of cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a bowl beat together the butter and cream cheese at medium-high speed with a hand mixer for about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl, then add in the confectioners sugar in small additions, beating on low between each addition, scraping at the sides between. After all the sugar has been added, add in the vanilla and salt, and beat on low to combine. Turn beaters to medium-high speed and beat for 2 more minutes. The frosting should look creamy and light, and should be very easy to work with.
- (Optional) Optionally, add desired amount of heavy cream and beat until a pourable consistency has been achieved.
Notes
Related Recipes
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