ADD SPICE TO DAD’S DAY

Cinnamon powers sweet breakfast treats that fathers will love on special morning

All the men in my life choose breakfast as their favorite meal of the day. Some like eggs, omelets and savory selections, but most prefer vehicles for syrup — think pancakes, waffles, crepes,

• Recipes | C4

hot cereal, even bacon and sausage. So I’m always on the lookout for recipes and ideas suitable for a river of sweetness.

Sweet, syrupy and meltingly warm cinnamon buns inspire this year’s Father’s Day breakfast.

On a recent weekend getaway, we embraced cinnamon bun pancakes at a breakfast diner. Smeared with soft cream cheese and drizzled with cinnamon syrup, they were the

start of a new relationship.

We will start our homemade pancakes with fresh ground cinnamon — fullbodied and flavorful.

To boost the cinnamon punch in our whole-grain pancakes, I sprinkle cinnamon chips over the cakes while they cook. Hershey’s makes a nicely flavored, nottoo-sweet, cinnamon chip

(available at Amazon.com) that gets meltingly soft when heated. Mix the chips with small bits of crispy bacon and sprinkle the combo on the cakes. Or, stir in dark raisins for a cinnamon-raisin treat.

I’m also a fan of King Arthur Flour’s powdered mix called Baker’s Cinnamon Filling. Vietnamese cinnamon flavors the mix — I add the mix (dry) directly to the pancake batter in place of the sugar and ground cinnamon. Alternatively, follow the package directions and stir

1 tablespoon water into ¼ cup of the mix to make a delicious thick spread to top the pancakes as they come off the griddle.

Sticking with our cinnamon-raisin theme, I plan to make my father jars of cinnamon-raisin-overnight-oatmeal for a sweet breakfast treat. The dry mix can be portioned into small jars in advance. Add milk to the jars the night before you want to eat the overnight oats. The next morning, dad can sweeten the deal with all the syrup his heart desires.