Cinnamon rolls or pancakes for breakfast? Why choose when you can have both?! Premade cinnamon rolls straight out of the tube are unraveled to make swirled pancake “molds.” For an easy bonus, red velvet pancake batter gets poured into the center and the whole thing is cooked until warm and delicious throughout. A swirled cinnamon-roll pancake is the ultimate in cuteness, especially when the finished cinna-cakes get drizzled with that delicious icing we all know and love.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 50 min |
| Active: | 50 min |
| Yield: | 5 pancakes |
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (see Cook’s Note)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon red gel food coloring
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- One 17.5-ounce tube large cinnamon rolls with icing, such as Pillsbury Grands!
- Nonstick cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Set a baking sheet in the oven while it heats.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt together in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, then whisk in the milk, butter, food coloring and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and whisk just until a thick batter is formed.
- Separate and unroll the cinnamon rolls. Reroll into a loose spiral so the batter can go between the layers of dough, securing the end with a toothpick. (Insert the toothpick sideways into the dough with enough sticking out for easy removal).
- Meanwhile, heat a small nonstick skillet over low heat until evenly heated, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, coat with nonstick spray and return to heat. Set one of the cinnamon swirls in the center of the skillet. Scoop about 1/3 cup of the batter into the center of the cinnamon roll and add 1 tablespoon of water around the roll. Cover and let the pancake steam until the roll is firm and the top of the pancake is very bubbly, about 7 minutes. Flip the pancake and cook, uncovered, until just set, about 2 minutes. Flip back over and transfer to the baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Continue cooking the remaining cinnamon rolls and pancake batter, spraying the skillet before each one.
- Scrape the icing from the cinnamon-roll tube into a small zip-top bag. Divide the pancakes among plates. Remove the toothpicks. Snip a corner off the bag and squeeze the icing over the pancakes before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 5 servings |
| Calories | 614 |
| Total Fat | 25 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Carbohydrates | 83 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 15 g |
| Protein | 15 g |
| Cholesterol | 99 mg |
| Sodium | 1334 mg |
Reviews
Aren’t ratings supposed to be about the recipes not your opinions. Made it with the kids quite fun and they enjoyed it immensely.
A delightfully sweet and fun treat to make with family and/or friends!! This recipe is a welcome addition to our annual post holiday brunch!
This is a solid fun recipe. I made it with my niece and nephew when they were staying over for a weekend. I like to find fun and weird food to make them and this was fun. I added chocolate chips to the batter along with some Saigon cinnamon and they were great. I used a ring cutter in my pan to help make sure the water stayed put while steaming them. Great job to the author of this recipe.
Noone in their right mind would make this recipe! Cooking is not supposed to be about just how much more difficult you can make a dish.