Breakfast Cupcakes
Coming up with this recipe was a happy accident. I was working on some exciting new Peanut Butter and Jelly school lunch recipes and thought the idea of Peanut Butter Pancake Sandwiches (coming soon) with preserves in the middle sounded like something I would have flipped for as a kid. I ended up testing them several times to arrive at the perfect combination, but I still had a ton of batter leftover. I hate wasting food, but I was also too lazy to make 100 pancakes. So, just to see what would happen, I poured it all into mini muffin tins and popped them in the oven. I couldn’t believe the results. Why hadn’t I thought of this before! They had become the perfect “muffin” as Chloe called it or “cupcake” as Kenya chimed in. Inspired to take things one step further, I whisked together some strawberry preserves and cream cheese to make “icing” and — voila — the Breakfast Cupcake was born!
They’re light and fluffy like a pancake and with the airy “frosting” it’s a treat that you can happily serve any time of day and your little one will adore them. The best part is that you’ll have a new good morning surprise for your family and they’ll never know these cupcakes aren’t loaded with sugar. Accidents happen and aren’t they delicious!
Peanut Butter & Jelly Breakfast Cupcakes (Makes 20 Mini Cupcakes)
1 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Peanut Butter (you can also use almond, cashew, or sunflower butter)
1 Large Egg
2 Tbsps Sugar
1 1/4 Cup Milk (low fat or whole)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk the first 3 ingredients in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the peanut butter, egg and sugar until combined, then whisk in the milk until incorporated.
4. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined (you don’t want to over beat the mixture).
5. Grease or line mini muffin tins and fill 2/3 of the way up with the batter.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool.
8. Spread the top of each cupcake with frosting (recipe below) and serve.
*This batter can also be used to make pancakes
Jelly Frosting (Makes about 2 cups)
1/2 Cup Whipped or Regular Cream Cheese (softened in a microwave or at room temperature)
1/4 Cup Jelly, Jam or Preserves
1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until throughly combined (you want the mixture to be smooth like frosting).
2. Spread on cupcakes and serve.
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What type of peanut butter do you use?
can’t wait to try these!
JD
Sounds great but for us it’s too much “white” for the morning:) We will definitely use as a sweet treat!!
I think my daughter would really like these, I’ll have to try them this weekend.
Do you think it would still be “fluffy” if it was half white/half wheat flour?
Thanks!!
Could I suggest that if you plan on baking these to take to school, definitely use a nut-free alternative (ie.Sunbutter). Most schools here (Ontario) have banned peanut butter AND NUTS in school lunches and daycares. Being a parent of a nut allergic boy, nut allergies are horribly frightening to me. Cheers!
Hmmm… maybe I should change the name. I tthought about PB & J Muffins or Cupcakes, other ideas?
Also, I make them with sunflower butter all the time when I’m sending them to school b/c Kenya’s school is nut free!
What are your thoughts on the 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white flour?
I think you have to try it. Whenever you use whole wheat flour, they automatically become more dense and since this is basically a pancake batter you want them to be light!
Use whole wheat pastry flour. It has the same nutrition as whole wheat flour but it is lighter. Whole wheat pastry flour can be subbed in when making pancakes, muffins, cakes etc… You can buy it in a health food store. I have been subbing whole wheat pastry flour in most of the recipes here on weelicious- they have all turned out fine- including this one!
Awesome! Such a great suggestion!
I used 1/2 white, 1/2 wheat on weelicious pear pumpkin loaf (although I made muffins instead) and they turned out awesome!
I have some strawberries and raspberries I need to use up before they go bad (bought way too much) so this is recipe is great!!
I made these this morning….they are not sweet at all!!! I also used a little more peanut butter. The next time I am going to use more sweetner…I used Sucanat this morning…I am thinking I may use more of it or brown sugar one. I used White Wheat flour and the texture was great!!! Overall I think with a little more sweetner they will be AWESOME for a great breakfast!!! If you have any thoughts on the sweetness please let me know!!
They’re actually not supposed to be so sweet. Did you frost them? The sweetness of the “frosting” makes every bite much more sweet. It’s basically a pancake batter and like pancakes, you usually pour a little maple syrup on top to sweeten them up.
Also, the recipe calls for sugars, so if you replace it with sucanat, you need to change the proportions.
There’s only 2 tbsp of sugar and I tested it with more and less. I feel like 2 tbsp makes them sweet, but not sugary tasting.
I made them for 4 kids and 3 adults this am and they gobbled them up.
Could these be made with Peabutter? I have my son going to a daycare that is nut-free, but he would LOVE these…
I make something similar using just regular pancake mix baked into mini-muffin tins. I found them on a website that called them “Puffins”.
We dip them in maple syrup.
That might satisfy the folks that have nut-free schools/kids.
Can you use a regular muffin tin? That’s all I have and my 2.5 YO won’t leave me alone about these :/
Yes you can, just cook them 5 minutes more.
I am going to try this with soy nut butter, as my daughter is allergic to peanuts…can’t wait to see more recipes that with peanut butter, so I can adapt with soy nut! Thanks!
Yum, going to try these for myself as a treat at work. My daughter is only 10 months… so still too young for nuts.
You can also make these with sunflower butter
I made these tonight (for breakfast tomorrow!) and of course I had to try one. My husband doesn’t like cream cheese… so we are just putting jam on the top, but I think it would definitely be better with the cream cheese mixture. Also, the cupcakes are sticking to my cupcake liners
Is it because of the batter? Or did I not cook long enough? My cupcakes usually never stick like that.
It’s because there’s no fat in the cupcakes. I find that if you spray the cupcake liners with cooking oil spray (or don’t use liners and just spray the pan) that keeps them from sticking.
looks so good but my daughter does not like peanut butter or almond butter. what else can i use in place of that?
You can use sunflower butter or soy butter
thank you…
by the way your recipes are amazing!!! I’m obsessed!
We made them this morning and YUM. My 1yr old and 2 1/2 yr olds love them. We used a flour blend (wheat, white and flax) so the wheat flavor came through a bit. Next time I’ll use more sunbutter so it’s a stronger flavor. I amd thinking of putting the “icing” in it so it’s not as messy on little fingers.
Emily that’s just what I did. I have a 21 month old, and he also can’t eat any dairy. So instead, I made the cupcakes (with dairy free substitutions) and then poked a hole in the middle, and squirted some jam inside using a pastry bag. He LOVED them and there was minimal mess!
I have no idea what I did wrong, but mine rose a good 2 1/2 inches over the muffin pan and look like cone heads.
[...] Weelicious posted a delicious sounding recipe for Breakfast Cupcakes! [...]
I used soy nut butter and it turned out great! I cut them open, warm them up in the microwave, put a little put on them, then drizzle them with syrup. A great breakfast for my daughter!
great idea! i will be adopting this! thanks for sharing.
This recipe looks great, I can’t wait to make them. Think I can make them with soy milk with no problem?
Yes, You can use any type of milk
I made these this morning and was very pleased with how they turned out. A cook I am not… and I found these very easy to make and very tasty! I didn’t notice much of a peanut butter taste, what was there was very subtle, which I liked. I wasn’t a fan of the frosting, a little too sweet for me. I may try a different flavor of preserve with it next.
My 2 year old refused to try them, he’s in an “I don’t like it!” stage where he won’t try anything new. I definitely think I may prefer these in a pancake form, he loves pancakes so I bet I have better results!
Made these this morning….and we love them!! Turned out light and delicious. The “frosting” is the perfect amount of sweet. Daddy even took a plate of them to work. I have a picky 3yr old…but cupcakes are an easy sell. Posted the link on my Facebook page…hoping lots of friends try them too!
I love these! I used 1/2 c. white flour and 3/4 c. wheat flour and I thought it tasted great. Just like a pancake in muffin form. I think next time if using the whole wheat, I’ll switch from white sugar to brown sugar. Great recipe!
awesome…used Beth’s flour mix ^^^ and oh my goodness!!! so delicious! I may add more pb…and I used raw sugar, just added 2 extra tablespoons, my son is ripping through them!
Yum! Love these – thanks! How did you store them? In the fridge, I guess, because of the cream cheese? How long do you think they’ll last?
The cupcakes would be good for about 3 days unfrosted in the fridge. You can freeze them too
I’m going to double this recipe. Do you suggest freezing and frosting later, or do you think the frosting will freeze ok on the cupcake? Looks delish!
I think you should definitely freeze then frost later. These are great!!
i cant wait to try this recipe!!!!!!
I want to make these, however I have no cream cheese on hand. I do have sour cream, cottage cheese & plain yogurt do you think I could fake it with one or more of these things?
The closest thing I would say is use the yogurt and mix with some jelly but it would be too runny to make it “frosting” – You can always dip them in the sauce! You really need the cream cheese because of its thickness and the way it holds. Let me know how it goes!
Made these last night. I used 1 cup white flour, 1/4 cup whole wheat and they turned out really good– still very light. I skipped the frosting and the kids still really enjoyed them. Nice light peanut butter flavor.
I am planning to make these using soy milk (instead of cow’s) and Tofutti (instead of cream cheese) for my milk-allergic son to take to preschool for his morning snack next week!
I made these with whole wheat pastry flour and added 1/4 cup of flaxseed to boost the nutrition in them. Also used the batter to make the pancakes. They both turned out well. I am going to experiment adding more peanut butter – just because we are a big fan of it and would maybe like a stronger peanut taste. I also have a little bit of batter left over and am going to dip banana and apple slices in the batter then fry them.
Thanks for the great recipe and ideas! Catherine so many children are eating better because of you. Be proud of yourself!
Just tasted mine and they are very dry. I only cooked them 17 min. Is there anything I can do next time to fix that? Thanks for your time and your wonderful recipes
Just tasted mine and they are very dry. I only cooked them 17 min. Is there anything I can do next time to fix that? Thanks for your time and your wonderful recipes. Stephanie
Hmm, these are actually moist cupcakes too. Try taking the cooking time down and see if that helps – just watch it the last 5 minutes. You may have over baked them.
I made these the other day and they came out GREAT and tasted delish! My 3 year old daughter gobbled 4 of them up shortly after they came out of the oven. I did half of them w/ the cream cheese mixture b/c my 5 year old liked them plain. These were sooo easy to make and quick in prep time.
I just made these with cashew butter, and they are terrific! I was worried when the batter came out so thin, but they baked up just perfectly. (However, I did add 2 Tbsp flour extra since I’m at high altitude.)
My sons don’t like cream cheese yet (I’m working on them), so they just like their cupcakes topped with straight jam. Either way they’re a filling snack with hardly any sugar, and low fat for Mommy too!
I make similar muffins using plain whole wheat pancake mix and various kinds of fresh fruit. (Berries, bananas, apple and some cinnamon…). I’m going to have to try your peanut butter recipe.
I made it tonight with soy butter since my daughter has a nut allergy. They taste good, but are VERY dense. When I had imagined this to be a pancake recipe, I thought it would be lighter. What is the texture supposed to be like? I wonder if the soy had anything to do with it…
Thanks!
Try using sunflower butter, they work really good
I just made these and ended up with almost 2 what the recipe said it made…I followed all directions closely as this was a first try….
I made these and they came out so good that I started wondering – can I make other “pancake” muffins? Like, could I make blueberry pancakes into muffins? If so, what do I replace the peanut butter with and how much fruit to add? Thanks!
I’m sure you can but will need to test it out. If you try it let me know how they turn out!
Can you substitute agave for the sugar?
You can use honey, maple syrup or agave. Not sure on sugar since it is not in liquid form, I would not be able to tell you how much to replace it with.
We just made these — they are wonderful! I love that they are not too sweet –the frosting gives it just enough sweetness. Yum!!! My son loves your recipes and we are having fun cooking together! Thanks for all of your great recipes!!!
I loved these however my kids would not eat them! I can’t believe it! My 3 1/2 year old licked the icing off though. *sigh* they are so annoyingly picky! Meanwhile, this momma just had her 3rd cupcake!
I just made these for lunch. I LOVE these! The daughter loved these and I’m sure the son will when I pick him up from school.
I used fresh raspberries in place of the jelly for the frosting and it was great!!
My 2 and 4 year old daughters and I loved making these together and eating them. I think I had 5, yum!
I used cupcake liners.. and the cupcake stuck to them when we tried to unwrap.. so ended up with half a cupcake.. : (
Sounds yummy!!
To take away any ‘fear’ of nuts etc. … I think removing peanut butter as the main ingredient and replacing it with the sunflower butter … then use pb as a ‘suggested alternative’ is a nice idea.. and it would ‘attract’ the people that have allergies in their home.
The they could be called Sunshine Cupcakes (which would tie into the ‘morning/breakfast’ idea
[...] Pilaf, Rice Cooker Mac and Cheese (always a crowd favorite), Oatmeal in a Crock Pot, Baked Ziti and PB&J Breakfast Cupcakes. It’s tough though, they’re my best testers, so they love trying new recipes all the [...]
Made these this morning…..however we were out of jam so I used frozen berries mashed and strained with a bit of honey….kind of runny but yummy nonetheless!
I have made these with 1/2 ww and 1/2 ap flour, and they come out great. I have also added mini chocolate chips when I don’t have the frosting ingredients on hand. They are so much fun for everyone to eat!
These turned out really well! My super picky eater didn’t like the frosting so instead I mixed peanut butter and grape jelly together until smooth. My DD loved that and is running around the kitchen with one in her hand as we speak. =)
Thanks for the alternative frosting-my son is allergic to dairy and i couldn’t come up with something!
They’re good with just plain jelly/preserves on top as well.
Kinda messy though.
Sounds absolutely fab!! I think I am trying ATLEAST 3 of your recipes a week now
Meggie Homemaker here I come hee hee
What type of peanut butter is used (not the brand), is it creamy or chunky, and does it have sugar in it?
Creamy
making them for a little someone’s first birthday breakfast tomorrow since daddy will be out for dinner
thank you!!
The cupcakes are cooling so I haven’t tried them yet. I used the rest of the batter to make pancakes and put the frosting on them. They were I big hit. I did wish the peanut butter came through a little more. Can you add more or would that throw the whole consistency off?
Thanks for the great recipe. I will be make it batter again for sure.
*making the
Great recipe! My daughter loves them. I sliced a banana and added it to the leftover batter and made banana, peanut butter pancakes!
Would this work with crunchy pb? We like our crunchy pb, lol.
We used crunchy. It’s a bit harder to whisk, but turned out having little peanuts throughout the “cupcakes”. Very good!
how are these with whole wheat flour?
I made mine with whole wheat flour this morning and they are delicious. Mine are egg-free, so I mixed 1tsp flax seed meal with 3 TB water – that was the only other change I made. My girls, who are 4 and 2, devoured 2 each for lunch today with bacon and blackberries. YUM thank you SO much for this recipe!!
I used Nutella as the ‘frosting’…… Yum!!!!!
That sounds absolutely ridiculous. And by ridiculous, I mean better than words could ever describe…
I just made these this morning, but I only put 1 cup of milk and added an overripe banana that I had. Delicious!!
[...] I tried my hand at the Breakfast Cupcakes from Weelicious and they were (insert sing songy voice here) awesome! I followed her recipe to [...]
what I have a child who is allergic to eggs. What would you recommend to use besides the powdered egg replacer? It sometimes makes recipes more tough, heavier, or drier.
Pardon my grammer:).
I have a child who is allergic to eggs. What would you recommend to use besides the powdered egg replacer? It sometimes makes recipes more tough, heavier, or drier.
I used 1 tsp flax seed meal soaked in 3 TB water and the muffins are fluffy and soft. HTH.
How creative! I need to try these, my little one would love having ‘cupcakes’ for breakfast!
@Me: try mashed banana as an egg alternative (1/2 banana + 1/4 tsp baking powder = 1 egg) it will add a slight banana flavor to whatever you make, but with these I bet it would be yummy!
I just made these and they are absolutely delicious, my daughter loved it
i made the frosting with pineapple jam and cream cheese .
thank you so much for sharing
Made breakfast cupcakes this morning. They were a big hit with my 2 year old!! Had no eggs (left them in the car when unpacking the groceries!) so I used 1/4 cup of Fage full fat greek yogurt instead. They came out great!!
speed…
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culinary art…
[...]Breakfast Cupcakes | Weelicious ™ – Fast, Easy & Fresh Homemade Home Made Baby Food Babyfood Recipes, Toddler Food and recipes for the entire family![...]…
I made these and the dough was dry. I want to try again. Any advice?
Instead of the frosting I just spread jam over the top of it and it was also good.
What about including egg white protein powder? Use 1/4 cup with 1 cup of flour? I’m looking to boost the protein. My daughter already eats tons of PB
I made pancakes with this batter this morning and I’ve never seen my boys eat so fast! Absolutely delicious!! I loved the pb flavour