Disaster Chef: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

When I found this recipe on Recipe Girl a few months ago, I knew I wanted to make it even though it is soooo not healthy. But sometimes, you just gotta indulge. In this instance, my son asked me to make them, and I told him I'd make them for his birthday. Of course I then forgot all about it. But he didn't. On his birthday morning, he reminded me, so I put them together. They do take a loooong time, since they have 3 different components. I wouldn't just whip these up any day, since they took hours to make. But for special occasions, yes. My son already asked me to make them again for his next birthday. Knowing him, he'll remember, too.

Without the frosting.

For these, you have to make the cinnamon swirl, the pancakes, and the frosting.

First, I made the cinnamon swirl.
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter,  melted
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Mix ingredients and pour into a ziplock sandwich bag. Set aside.

Next, I made the frosting. I'm not sure why mine turned out so dark, maybe the vanilla I used was too dark? I used pretty much exactly what the recipe specified, but mine was sort of caramel colored instead of a nice pearly white like the original recipe:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
2-ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Melt the butter, then stir other ingredients into pan, mixing well after each addition.

On with the pancakes. Mix together
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Mix together flour and baking powder, then other ingredients, mixing until moistened but still a bit lumpy.

Pour about 1/4 c. batter for each pancake into a skillet and let cook a couple minutes before cutting corner out of sandwich bag and drawing the circle on the pancake.You might have to squish the baggie a bit if the cinnamon mixture has separated. It should be toothpaste consistency as it squeezes out of bag.

Once turned, the cinnamon swirl melts into the pan, leaving a crispy, sugary, hollowed out swirl pattern in the pancake.

Turn it out onto a plate with the swirl side up. Drizzle with frosting to finish. They don't need anything extra--no butter or syrup.

As I said, these were sinfully delicious. I never use white flour exclusively, but I really wanted these to taste like cinnamon rolls, so I did this time. They were very decadent and delicious, very sweet and rich. I would make them again for special occasions, but not for an ordinary day. They are an indulgence for sure.

Disaster Chef: Pumpkin Pancakes (Project Pinterest)

So, maybe the first or second thing I ever made off Pinterest was pumpkin pancakes. But apparently I didn't pin the recipe! So this past fall, when we had tons of pumpkins from the garden, I went looking for the recipe I made the year before. Of course I didn't remember it/couldn't find it. But there were about a million pumpkin pancake recipes, so I picked one and rolled with it. This time I made sure to pin it, since my son really likes pumpkin pancakes.

I followed the recipe from table io pretty closely.

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil (I skipped this)
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 
  
Dry Ingredients:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder (left this out)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp pumpkin spice
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (left this out)

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the wet ingredients and mix using the flat beater attachment. In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients with a spoon or whisk. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
2. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Spray lightly with cooking spray and add about 1/4 cup pancake batter. Cook the first side until lightly brown and the edges begin to set. Flip the pancake over and cook until browned. Place a clean kitchen towel over the cooked pancakes as you prepare the rest.

I mixed all of it by hand and the batter was super thick. The kind of thick where the pancake doesn't cook in the center. And nothing is more yucky than raw pancakes batter in the center of an otherwise delicious pancake. So I added more milk to thin the batter. But then they got all weird and foamy like my snickerdoodle pancakes. At least these ones didn't taste all weird and sour! I added more flour to thicken them up, and then spread the pancakes very thin. The batter doesn't flow out nicely, so I had to spread each one in the pan, but once I did that, they cooked all the way through and were tasty enough for my son.

Pancake success.

Rating: Recipe 3.5 out of 5 spoons, after I figured out how to cook them.

Needed better instructions on spreading doughy batter. Wasted a few pancakes before I got it right.

Disaster Chef: Snickerdoodle Pancakes #foodiefriday #projectpinterest

Another disastrous Disaster Chef project here for you today. This week it’s snickerdoodle pancakes. Remember my post about making snickerdoodles, and how I didn’t have any cream of tartar? Well, I got some. And I made snickerdoodles again, and they were everything a snickerdoodle should be. I was so inspired, in fact, that the next morning I decided I’d make snickerdoodle pancakes, which I’d seen on pinterest while searching for the cookie recipe.

First let me say, pancakes can be tricky. I did my fair share of burning them when I started making them a few years ago, and had a number turn out with raw centers. But my son LOVES pancakes, so I got better at them. In fact, now it’s one of the few things I consistently rock. I make all varieties—apple, pumpkin, banana, blueberry, plain…And my son loves them all. Because, let’s face it, I’ve become a pancake expert.

I was just cooking for my son and me this time, so I halved the recipe. It can be found here.

Think this looks moist and soggy? It's worse!

Snickerdoodle Pancakes

Author: Melissa @ No. 2 Pencil

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time:  15 mins

Serves: 4

Snickerdoodle Pancakes!

Ingredients

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon of kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 4 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• ¼ – ½ a cup of milk

Instructions

1. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and whisk to combine.
2. Add wet ingredients and whisk just until combined.
3. Use ¼ cup of milk for thicker, fluffy pancakes. Add more milk for thinner, tender pancakes.
4. Pour ¼ cup of pancake batter onto hot non-stick griddle.
5. When edges of pancakes start to set, flip and cook until light golden brown.
6. Serve with butter and warm cinnamon vanilla glaze.
7. Makes about 16 pancakes.

I don’t know if it was the cream of tartar (it seemed like it called for an awful lot), but the batter was this really weird gelatinous consistency. I did use plain yogurt in place of sour cream, since I didn’t have a container of sour cream on hand. But I’ve used this substitution lots of times, and it’s always worked fine. In fact, I always use yogurt in pancakes, because it gives them a wonderful tender quality. This time, not so much.
   

Waiting, and waiting, for this to solidify...

I put the first pancake in with high hopes. Then I proceeded to wait, and wait, and wait for it to get solid around the edges. Finally, it looked sort of solid so I tried to slide a spatula under it, but it sort of folded up. I did manage to get it turned, then waited a few minutes and took it off. It had taken a long time to solidify around the edges, so that side was a little overcooked. Fine, it was a bit burned. But still edible. I decided to eat that one myself and make a better one for my son. As I browned his pancake to perfection (see picture), I ate the one I’d made. IT WAS TERRIBLE! It was super sour for some reason, and even though it was scorched on one side, the middle was all gooey. Not raw, mind you. More like…foamy pudding. Or that whipped yogurt Yoplait put out a few years ago.

The one that looked good.

These things would not cook! Even though the second one looked beautiful, it was all gooey in the middle too. I tried adding more liquid, then more flour, then turning the pan on the lowest setting, which couldn’t burn anything if you left it all day. I left a pancake in there on low for about 20 minutes, even putting a lid on it so the top would cook, even if it turned out cake-like. No. It NEVER cooked. It just solidified the gelatinous goo.

This was a huge disaster, unless you like really gooey, gummy, sour pancakes. I will never make it again.

The cinnamon glaze was good, though.

Warm Cinnamon Vanilla Glaze

Author: Melissa @ No. 2 Pencil

Recipe type: Glaze

Cuisine: American

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  1 min

Total time:  6 mins

Serves: 4

A warm cinnamon vanilla glaze to serve on top of Snickerdoodle Pancakes.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 3-4 tablespoons of milk
• 
  

Instructions

1. Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Warm in small pan over low heat.