HAPPY EASTER....AND THE BEST PUMPKIN CINNAMON ROLL PANCAKES

To those that celebrate, Happy Easter! I think I will ALWAYS enjoy coloring eggs for Easter. We played around with food coloring, brown and white eggs, and had some cheap fun! 

Sharing one of my favorite pancake recipes. I've made these twice, but the lighting was never good enough for a photo since I usually eat pancakes before 8 in the morning. These amazing pancakes are from the Recipe Girl, and I found the recipe when searching for ways to use up some pumpkin.  She had me at pumpkin, but the cinnamon filling and icing puts these pancakes over the top. We'll be starting Easter Sunday with attending sunrise service and then looking forward to these pancakes.

Photo courtesy of RecipeGirl.com

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes from RecipeGirl.com

CINNAMON FILLING:
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

CREAM CHEESE ICING:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) salted butter
2 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

PANCAKES:
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup pure unsweetened pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
2 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons pumpkin pie spice (see Tips below)
1/2/ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar

directions:

1. Prepare the cinnamon filling: In a small bowl- mix butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Whisk the filling ingredients together and then pour it into a sandwich-sized zip baggie. Zip up the baggie and lay it on the counter while you prepare the pancake batter.

2. Prepare the Icing: In a medium microwave-safe bowl, heat butter and cream cheese 30 to 60 seconds, just until butter has melted and cream cheese has softened. Whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla and combine until smooth. Set the icing aside.

3. Prepare the pancake batter: In a large bowl, whisk together milk, pumpkin, eggs, oil, and vinegar. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, salt and brown sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and stir just until all is moistened.

4. Check on your cinnamon filling: Open up the baggie again and give it a good stir to re-incorporate any butter that may have separated. You want the mixture to thicken a bit- it's best when it's similar to the squeezing texture of toothpaste (which will eventually happen if you leave it on the counter long enough, but refrigerate for a few minutes if you need to). Don't try to use the filling for the pancake swirl unless it has thickened as it will be too runny! Snip off a small piece of the corner of the baggie.

5. Cook the pancakes: Preheat a large skillet or griddle to medium, and spray it with nonstick spray. Use an ice cream scoop (or ladle) to add the batter to the pan. Use the bottom of the scoop or ladle to spread out the batter into a nice, even circle. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Pick up your cinnamon filling baggie and squeeze the filling into the corner. Starting at the center of the pancake squeeze the cinnamon filling on top of the pancake batter in a swirl (just as you see in a cinnamon roll). Cook the pancakes 3 to 4 minutes, or until bubbles begin popping on top of the pancake and it is golden brown on the bottom. Slide a thin spatula underneath the pancake and gently but quickly flip it over. Cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes, until the other side is golden as well. When you flip the pancake onto a plate, you will see that the cinnamon filling has created a crater-swirl of cinnamon. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, and repeat with the remaining pancake batter and cinnamon filling. Serve pancakes topped with a drizzle of cream cheese icing.

tips:

*If you do not have pumpkin pie spice, use this combo of spices instead: 1 teaspoon allspice, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

*Check out my Gingerbread Cinnamon Roll Pancakes post for some more tips on how to get the cinnamon filling *just right* (it's critical to the success of these pancakes!)

Source: RecipeGirl.com

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This delicious recipe brought to you by RecipeGirl.com

http://www.recipegirl.com/2011/09/22/pumpkin-cinnamon-roll-pancakes/

Thank you for stopping by!  I am joining Seasonal Sunday.

xxoo

Debbie

EASTER AND ALL IT'S SWEETNESS...LET'S DISH

I'm feeling VERY sweet this week, and happy to be joining Cuisine Kathleen's "Let's Dish". We have sooooo many sweet treats sitting on the kitchen counter right now, that I better plan on exercising ALL of next week. Friends, neighbors, co-workers and students are so kind and generous during Easter week and all throughout the year. I just looked and we have braided Easter bread, cute pastel cookies (picture below), huge peanut butter cookies with white chocolate chips, peanut turtles with Easter sprinkles, and Easter Cassata which I put in the fridge. It's a sweet and happy house, and I'm loving it! 

Wegman's had chocolate hens so they came home with me. Using silicone cupcake molds with a cupcake liner, I made some Easter treats by melting good quality chocolate and peanut butter, and then stirred in some Fiber One cereal to make the nests. Added a few candy eggs for decoration, and let them firm up a bit.

You can barely see the little cutie, but there is a polka dotted chick egg cup holder in the terrarium which is the centerpiece for our table for two. Joe gifted me with the terrarium many years ago, and it makes a versatile centerpiece. I use it like a cloche. 

I know Cuisine Kathleen will notice that I switched out the plates in this photo below. I just couldn't decide.

The moss bunnies at Pier One were begging me to take them home, so I adopted four of them over the weekend.

Fuzzy and cute for vases :-)

Our table for two this week has green striped chargers purchased from the Christmas Tree Shoppe (several years ago), and I haven't seen them since. I added green egg shaped green polka dot plates from Walmart to use for the dessert.

Wishing those that celebrate a very Happy Easter! Thank you for stopping by! If you let me know you were here by leaving a comment, I will hop on over to your blog for a visit. I'm joining Let's Dish, Tablescape Thursday and Foodie Friday with this post. 

Debbie