Cabin Cooking: Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

I've joined several homesteading memes. I get to share and receive lots of good ideas. Here's a recipe I found at Happiness is Homemade at A Peak into My Paradise.  Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes links back Christina's at it's a keeper.com via Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.

Cinnamon Swirl Pancakes

Make pancake batter using your favorite recipe or mix.

Cinnamon Sugar Swirl
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp cinnamon

The recipe says: In a microwave safe bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until smooth.  Microwave on high for 10 second increments until it is soft and can be squeezed through a pastry bag.

I don't have a microwave so I melted the butter in a pan, added the sugar and cinnamon, and cooked it on low until dissolved. I put the mixture in a Ziploc bag and snipped off the corner.

The recipe says: Pour the pancake batter onto a hot griddle. Squeeze the cinnamon mixture over the batter in a swirl shape.  When pancakes are lightly browned, flip and cook until done. Clean all of the sugar out of the pan before starting a second batch.

Cream Cheese Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
2 ounces cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
4 Tbsp milk

The recipe says: Using a hand mixer blend until smooth. Pour the icing into another pastry or Ziploc bag. Squeeze it over the cooked pancakes.

I don't have a hand mixer either, so I used a sturdy whisk and it blended just fine. With bacon and coffee it made a hearty cabin breakfast for Wayne and me.

I cut the Cinnamon Sugar Swirl ingredients in half, but still ended up with too much. Later I made an apple crisp. I let the leftover sugar mixture warm to room temperature, added a small amount of flour, some quick cooking oats, and chopped pecans to make a crumble topping. It turned out perfect and I felt good about not wasting my ingredients. -- Margy