Apple Butter Cinnamon Roll Pancakes With Apple Cream Cheese Drizzle (Egg Free)

These buttermilk pancakes have a swirl of cinnamon roll filling and are topped with an apple cream cheese drizzle. They are a special treat that would be fantastic for a fall brunch or any special occasion. The homemade apple butter provides plenty of apple flavor making these pancakes stand out. While these are a bit of time, you can prep some parts ahead of time to make these come together faster.

The star of these pancakes is homemade apple butter. Apple butter is similar to applesauce, but it's more concentrated and seasoned with "warm" spices including cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Apple butter can take hours to make on the stove top or in a crock pot, but using an Instant Pot cuts that time down to about 45 minutes! You can make the apple butter ahead of time. While there is no actual butter in apple butter, you can spread it on sandwiches or bread and it would make a fantastic addition to a fall charcuterie board!

Let me show you how to make these delectable pancakes!

For the apple butter:

2 1/2 pounds of apples

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 apple juice or apple cider

For the cinnamon roll swirl:
1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons apple butter

For the pancakes:

1 1/4 cup milk

1 tsp lemon juice

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup apple butter

1/4 cup veggie oil

1/4 cup white sugar

1 heaping tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

For the apple cream cheese glaze:
3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 oz cream cheese, softened

+about 2 tablespoons apple juice

You will also need:

Pressure cooker (I have an Instant Pot 6 Quart Duo)

Immersion blender or regular blender

Skillet and spatula

Cooking spray

2 plastic sandwich baggies

Paper towels

To make this recipe, we will first start with making the apple butter. Apple butter is super easy to make and can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks or frozen and stored for up to 6 months in the freezer.

For the apple butter, you will need:

2 1/2 pounds of apples

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 apple juice or apple cider

Cut the apples in half and core them. I like to use my melon baller to core apples, I feel like it wastes less apple while taking out the core. You don't need to peel the apples, but you can if you prefer.

I used a variety of apples for my apple butter but you can use all one type if you'd prefer. For mine, I used 2 granny smith apples, 1 gala, 1 fuji and 1 macintosh apple. A variety of apples can give your apple butter better depth of flavor, but I'd recommend using whatever apples you like to eat or even whatever happens to be on sale at the store.

Once the apples are cored, cut them into wedges. Add apples and all apple butter ingredients into the Instant Pot. Set the Instant Pot to Pressure Cook for 15 minutes on High Pressure. Secure the lid and ensure the vent is closed.

When the Instant Pot finishes cooking, let the pot naturally release for 20 minutes. The pin will likely be dropped by the time your timer is up.

Open the pot and use an immersion blender to blend everything right in the inner pot. You can use a regular blender if you don't have an immersion blender. Blend until everything is smooth and there are no chunks remaining.

Once the apple butter is blended, set the Instant Pot to Saute for 10 minutes. Stir constantly a rubber spatula until the timer goes off. Sauteing will thicken the apple butter and caramelize it as well. Remove the inner pot and cool completely. This recipe makes about 3 cups of apple butter.

Once the apple butter is ready, we can make the cinnamon roll swirl. Combine:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons apple butter

Combine cinnamon roll swirl ingredients in a plastic sandwich baggie and squish to combine. Cut a small bit of the corner off the edge of the baggie. This will allow you to pipe a swirl of the filling into the pancake.

Note: These photos don't include the apple butter. When I made the filling and took the photos, it was too thick to "pipe out" so I added some apple butter to thin it out and that worked great!

To make the pancakes I made a buttermilk substitute by combining 1 1/4 cup milk and 1 tsp lemon juice in a bowl. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes while you combine the other ingredients. The milk will get lumpy, that is normal so don't be alarmed!

While the milk is setting, combine:

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup apple butter

1/4 cup veggie oil

1/4 cup white sugar

1 heaping tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until there are no lumps.

To make the apple cream cheese glaze for the top, combine:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 oz cream cheese, softened

+about 2 tablespoons apple juice

Combine the powdered sugar, butter and cream cheese in a bowl. Add enough apple juice to make the glaze thinner so it can be drizzled over the pancakes. I added about 2 tablespoons of apple juice total. When smooth, add the glaze to a plastic sandwich baggie and, when ready to use, cut a small corner off the tip of the baggie to drizzle the glaze over the pancakes.

Now that everything is prepped, we can finally make the pancakes! Preheat the skillet and spray with cooking spray. Pour 1/3 cup of pancake batter onto the hot skillet. While the pancake is cooking, pipe a spiral of cinnamon roll filling on top. Don't wait too long or the pancake may become too cooked and the swirl will sit on top instead of sinking into the pancakes. When the first side of the pancake is brown, flip and cook spiral face down for several minutes until side two is cooked.

This cinnamon roll filling will make a sticky mess (fair warning). I like to clean my skillet between pancakes with a wet paper towel to help keep everything from sticking like crazy. Make sure to spray the skillet with cooking spray again before adding more pancake batter. I would also recommend scraping off anything stuck to the spatula before it can solidify. Be very careful, the cinnamon roll filling is like liquid lava and it will stick to your skin like melted sugar (because it IS melted sugar, after all). Nothing hurts quite as much as melted sugar on your skin!

You might be surprised when you flip the pancakes onto your plate and see your cinnamon roll swirl is missing. The filling melts into the pancake and gives the top of the pancake a great flavor and a fun little swirl in the pancake.

The final step in preparing this treat is to drizzle the apple cream cheese glaze over the top of the pancakes. Use sparingly as it can be overpoweringly sweet if you drown the pancakes in the glaze. No additional toppings are needed but you could also serve these up with some thinly sliced apples on top, if desired!

These pancakes are a great treat and would be great for a fall brunch! While these pancakes do take a little extra effort, believe me they are worth it!

This recipe yields about 10 pancakes and can be scaled up by simply doubling the recipe (though you do not need to make additional apple butter as there is plenty!).

I hope you enjoy this new approach to a breakfast standard!