Have you ever had IHOP's Cinn-a-Stack pancakes? If you have, you know that they're just about the best thing in the world. I only get them once in awhile, because I seem to only make it to IHOP when I have house guests. The nearest one is about 5 minutes up the road, so there's no reason I couldn't go more often, I just usually prefer somewhere with a drive-thru when I'm eating alone.
To satisfy my cravings, I decided to come up with my own version of a cinnamon bun pancake. They turned out wonderfully, and pretty close to the real deal. I had to share this with the world, so everyone can have Cinn-a-Stack without even leaving the house. Heck, you don't even have to leave your pajamas!
Cinnamon Bun Pancakes
Ingredients
Icing:
- About 2oz. cream cheese - softened
- 1/4 C. milk
- 8 Tbsp. powdered sugar
Filling:
- 1/2 C. packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Pancakes:
- 1 1/2 C. flour
- 3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 heaping Tbsp. sugar
- 1 1/4 C. milk
- 1 large egg
- 3 Tbsp. butter - melted
Method
- To make the icing, simply whisk together the soft cream cheese, milk, and powdered sugar. Start with about 5-6 Tbsp. of the sugar, and add the rest until you get the desired consistency.
- For the filling, place the brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and butter in a small saucepan. Heat and stir over low heat until the butter has melted and the mixture is liquid. Keep over the lowest heat until ready to use. After awhile, the mixture will be come less liquid, and more grainy.
- For the pancakes, place the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Whisk together to eliminate any clumps. Form a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk, egg, and melted butter. Stir together until well combined. Let the mixture sit for 2-5 minutes. The longer it sits before cooking, the fluffier the pancakes will be!
- Heat a skillet over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, pour in the batter about a half a cup at a time, and brown on both sides. Stack the pancakes as they come out of the pan, spreading a few tablespoons of the filling on top of each as they hit the plate.
- When all of the batter is used, pour the icing over the stack, close your eyes, and pretend that you're at IHOP!
Enjoy!