Transform Store-Bought Pancake Mix With A Sprinkle Of This Pantry Staple

When we discuss ways to amp up pancakes, a lot of the hacks involve extra work, like sifting your flour or macerating fruit for delicious toppings. What if we told you, however, that you could give boxed pancake mix a facelift with a few shakes of a bottle that you (most likely) already have on your spice rack? Cinnamon, that perennial pantry standby, can make store-bought pancake mix into something very special, and it doesn't really take much effort. Just mix up your batter as the box instructs, then add as much cinnamon as your heart desires and stir up your bowl. We've seen this trick on social media, and, frankly, we're intrigued.

One of the common mistakes you're probably making with pancakes is not putting greater thought into the big picture. Your boxed pancake powder contains all the dry ingredients you need for griddle cakes. Depending on what type you buy, you may need to add eggs, milk, or even just water for "complete" mixes. But this will only ever produce plain pancakes.

Surely you've considered flinging a handful of chocolate chips into your batter for an improvement on the norm, but cinnamon is even more versatile and effortless to augment your pancakes. All by themselves, covered in butter and maple syrup — the real kind from maple trees, not corn syrup labeled as "pancake syrup," kthnx — these pancakes will be very good and quite easy to prepare. But, as ever, we implore you to think beyond the basics and really consider all the possibilities of cinnamon pancakes and the opportunities you have to make a blockbuster pile of flapjacks.

Several flavors are natural matches with cinnamon and will reliably boost your pancakes all the more when you sprinkle the batter with this spice. A glug of real vanilla extract can greatly amp up the sweet notes and, with a pat of butter, can make your loved ones feel like they are eating dessert for breakfast. In terms of toppings, we love to consider apples when it comes to cinnamon, as the two are a culinary pairing for the ages. Some diced/spiced/cooked apples (or even canned apple pie filling in a pinch), warmed and smothered atop your 'cakes, are a surefire avenue to pancakes that will have others clamoring for seconds.

We've also seen internet denizens taking the addition of cinnamon to pancakes in a new direction by mixing the spice with brown sugar and melted butter to make a cinnamon roll-style filling that is piped in spirals atop cooking pancakes. You can do this easily with boxed mix and a piping bag to produce picturesque pancakes that taste like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and look like something from a high-dollar bistro. To take things over the top, make a cream cheese glaze; we like to stir cottage cheese into the icing of our cinnamon rolls for extra protein, so why not do it here as well? The concept of adding cinnamon to boxed pancakes is, on one hand, a very simple idea that yields big flavor. On the other, it's also the basis for several breakfast upgrades that will leave you wondering why you ever need to leave the house and spend money to go out for a pancake breakfast!