Description
Vegan Cinnamon Roll pancakes are soft & fluffy pancakes with a spiral of brown sugar and cinnamon that taste just like an ooey gooey cinnamon roll! Drizzle these pancakes with a quick cinnamon roll icing and dig in.
Ingredients
WET:
- 1.5 cups milk
- 1 tablespoon oil or 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (sub white or apple cider vinegar)
DRY:
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour (scooped & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Cinnamon Swirl:
- 1/3 cup cold butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar (dark brown will work)
- 4 teaspoons cinnamon
Vanilla Icing: (optional)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2–3 tablespoons milk
Instructions
- Make the cinnamon swirl mixture: Cut butter into 1/2″ slices and place in a large bowl. Add the cinnamon and brown sugar and mash together with a fork. It will take about 30 seconds of mashing before the mix starts to come together, but the butter will soften and incorporate with the sugar and cinnamon. Place this mixture in a plastic bag and make a small snip in the corner. (so it becomes a makeshift piping bag!) Set aside and it will continue to soften just a bit.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine all wet ingredients and whisk to incorporate. Add all dry ingredients to a sieve and sift into the wet ingredients. This helps ensure wet ingredients are well mixed and prevents dry spots of flour on the bottom of the bowl.
- Heat up your griddle to 325 or skillet to medium-low heat. This gives pancake batter adequate time to thicken.
- Make the optional icing: While the batter rises and the griddle heats, sift powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of milk and stir to combine. Add more milk if the icing is too thick. Set aside until your pancakes are ready.
- Cook the pancakes: Use butter or spray oil to lightly coat the cooking surface then pour batter onto the skillet or griddle.
- 1/4 cup makes 8-9 silver dollar-sized pancakes.
- 1/3 cup makes 5-6 adult-sized pancakes that are easy to flip.
- 1/2 cup makes 3-4 big
- Grab the piping bag. Begin at the center of the pancake and squeeze gently as you move in a swirl pattern around the pancake. Touch down to the batter if the stream of filling is ‘following’ your hand vs sticking to the pancake. For best results, pipe the swirl as soon as you pour the pancake batter.
- Cook until the edges are very set, have a dry appearance, and you see holes (not bubbles, but holes from popped bubbles) on the surface of the pancake. Flip and cook for 20-30 seconds on the second side. A very brief cook time on the second side helps prevent the swirl mixture from leaking out all over. Some of this mixture will leak out.
- Use a damp paper towel to wipe down the griddle between each batch of pancakes. The swirl side of the pancakes will bubble up and some swirl will leak out during cooking.
- To remove, carefully slide a spatula under the pancake and lift. Try to avoid dragging and catching the spatula as this will alter the swirl. It will still taste lovely, just won’t look as pretty.
Notes
Room temperature/ softened butter melts and makes quite a mess when swirling and cooking the pancakes. If you’d prefer to use softened butter to mix the swirl ingredients together, bag it and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes to thicken and chill.
The best tip for keeping the swirl intact is to pipe the swirl onto the pancake as soon as you pour the batter down. This gives the swirl filling ample time to sink into the pancake. Cook the pancakes almost fully on the first side then flip for a brief 20-30 second cook on the second side.
Wipe the griddle with a damp paper towel in between batches to remove any leftover cinnamon filling as the sugar left on the griddle will burn.
Cook these pancakes on medium-low heat or 325 on an electric griddle as we want to almost fully cook the pancakes on that first side to prevent the swirl mixture from spilling out. If using a cast iron pan, you may need to lower the temp after your first batch of pancakes as a cast iron pan may continue to heat up.
Keywords: Cinnamon roll pancakes