“I don’t like muffins!”
That is a common phrase heard coming from my youngest daughter (almost eight). Of all my kids she is the only one that I would have ever labeled “picky.” I prefer the term “selective.”
To be fair, she does have good reason. She had a lot of feeding challenges and trauma when she was very little (and had to rely on squash “milk” to keep going). So I view it through that lens and take into consideration her nervous system while working with her food mindset.
But I do also have to cook for the whole family (six people). So I have to get a little creative with how I present her food sometimes.
Healthy Breakfast Cupcake Recipe
One day as I was serving banana muffins for breakfast and my daughter gave her usual revolt, I decided to turn a boring muffin into a cupcake!
It wasn’t complicated. It only took an extra minute of my time. But it sure changed my daughter’s day! Don’t you just love 60-second picky eater hacks?!
I took inspiration from my gluten-free parsnip cupcakes and made a simple frosting of butter, sunbutter, and honey. Muffin crisis averted.
This was the springboard for creating my protein-packed, gluten-free cupcakes for breakfast!
High Protein Breakfast for Kids
As a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I’m all about blood sugar balance and making sure kids start their day with a combination of protein, complex carbs, and healthy fat.
RELATED: How to avoid those “hangry” meltdowns caused by low blood sugar in kids.
Hands down, the biggest struggle for my clients is the protein part. I work with many kids that won’t eat eggs, sausage, bacon, or ham. Many either don’t like or don’t tolerate yogurt, cheese, or nuts. That doesn’t leave many options!
A great strategy is to protein load a typical starchy food like muffins.
These healthy gluten-free cupcakes contain three sources of protein – collagen (use the coupon KS10 for 10% off!), eggs, and sunbutter. But they taste like dessert and have a great fluffy texture!
Breakfast Cupcakes with Healthy Fat
We can’t forget the healthy fat component of blood sugar balance. Fat slows the absorption of sugar and carbohydrates, leaving your child full longer. Which results in a stable mood and clear thinking. #winning
Healthy breakfast cupcakes can be made with your favorite healthy fat, such as olive oil, avocado oil, butter, or coconut oil. I prefer a liquid oil such as olive or avocado simply for ease. But saturated fats can be melted and used just as well.
The frosting brings in another fat component, using sunbutter combined with butter. It almost has a butterscotch flavor from the nutty sunbutter combined with the sweetness of the honey. You could substitute any nut butter in the frosting or keep it nut-free with the sunbutter.
Healthy Gluten-Free Cupcakes For Breakfast
Gluten-free grains, psyllium husk, and honey add the carbohydrate component to this all-in-one breakfast. Now you can feel good about serving your kids dessert for breakfast!
These also make a great make-ahead breakfast which you can put in the refrigerator or freezer for later!
Print
Healthy Gluten-Free Cupcakes with Sunbutter Frosting
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12–16 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Protein-packed banana muffin with a healthy fat-filled frosting.
Ingredients
Cupcake:
- 2 medium-size ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup olive oil (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!) or avocado oil
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 – 1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp. whole milk, or a dairy-free milk like coconut milk, or oat milk
- 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup sorghum flour
- 1 cup tapioca flour (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!) or white rice flour
- 3 Tbsp. grassfed collagen (use the coupon KS10 for 10% off!)
- 2 tsp. psyllium husk powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. unrefined sea salt (Use the code kitchenstewardship for 15% off of your first purchase)
Frosting:
- 1 cup unsweetened sunbutter
- 4 Tbsp. butter, softened
- 4 Tbsp. honey
- pinch salt (optional)
Instructions
Cupcake:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large mixing bowl mash the bananas.
- Add the other wet ingredients: oil, eggs, honey, milk, and vinegar. Mix to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients: flour, collagen, psyllium husk, soda, powder, and salt. Blend with mixer or whisk until well combined.
- Pour into a greased cupcake tin or use cupcake liners (12 large, 14-16 medium).
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 – 35 minutes.
- Allow cupcakes to cool before frosting.
Frosting:
- Mix sunbutter, butter, and honey in a small bowl. Stir to combine.
- Refrigerate until ready to use.
Final cupcake:
- Frost cupcakes and serve immediately.
- You may add a pinch of salt and/or dye-free sprinkles on top.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. You could also put unfrosted cupcakes in the freezer for a quick breakfast later.
Notes
You can replace the olive oil with melted butter or coconut oil in the cupcakes.
You can replace the sunbutter with any nut butter in the frosting.
You can replace the butter with coconut oil in the frosting.
You can add mini chocolate chips to the cupcake batter for a special birthday treat! Or a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder will make these chocolate cupcakes.Â
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 482
- Sugar: 18g
- Sodium: 281mg
- Fat: 35g
- Saturated Fat: 7g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 31g
- Fiber: 6g
- Protein: 14g
- Cholesterol: 51mg
Keywords: healthy breakfast, snacks for kids, picky eater
Kid-Friendly Healthy Breakfast Ideas
Breakfast cupcakes make an easy, balanced breakfast that kids will love! But there are plenty of other options as well. Some other kid-friendly and blood sugar-friendly breakfast ideas include:
- Broth scrambled eggs + sourdough toast with refined sugar-free jam
- Pumpkin pie breakfast bites + whole milk yogurt
- Oven pancake + bacon
- Instant Pot steel cut oats with collagen and fruit
- Granola bar bowl
- Fresh fruit with breakfast hummus
- Mudballs + smoothie
- Peach cobbler smoothie + homemade granola bars
- Candy can smoothie bowl
- No-cook banana custard topped with dried fruit
- Quinoa bars + sausage
- Baked oatmeal topped with plain yogurt or raw milk
- Egg pizza (toast topped with scrambled eggs and cheese, baked until cheese is melted)
- Avocado bird’s nest + fruit
- Soaked teff porridge with collagen, dried fruit, and nuts
- For the adventurous eaters – dinner leftovers!
Healthy Breakfast for Picky Eaters
My daughter happily ate these gluten-free cupcakes the day I photographed them. But that’s not the case every time I make them. And that’s OK!
Feeding picky eaters or selective eaters is not a straightforward process. It takes patience and working with your child.
Because my daughter has been cooking with me since she was a toddler (and has gone through the Kids Cook Real Food ecourse several times) she knows her way around the kitchen. If she doesn’t like what I am serving for breakfast nobody makes a big deal out of it.
She knows she can politely decline and get something for herself. And that is the goal. Not for me to dictate what she eats, but to empower her to make healthy choices and understand how to feed herself.
My daughter knows how to eat to keep her blood sugar balanced and the consequences of not doing it. So I don’t have to worry.
I do still make breakfast cupcakes for my other kids. They devour them…and so do I! My daughter eats them when she’s in the mood. And it’s a non-issue for us both. That is how you say goodbye to picky eating! Yes, you can have your breakfast cupcake and eat it too.
Would your kids get excited about cupcakes for breakfast?
We made these last weekend and my kiddo ate most of them in 2 days! We had quite a bit of leftover ‘frosting’ and now he is using that on toast instead of peanut butter of jelly.
I added a handful of chocolate chips to a few of them and those were delicious, too!
That’s awesome!! The “frosting” is quite addictive. My kids enjoy it plain.
Is there a way to replace the egg in this recipe? My lo can’t do eggs. Thank you!
Have you tried the egg replacer that is usually with the gluten-free and/or vegan products in the baking aisle? I don’t know of another substitute off hand, but I have used this when making vegan baked goods, and it works well. NRG is one brand that has been around for quite some time…
Good luck!
The eggs really help make these cupcakes light and fluffy. But you could try without. I typically make gelatin eggs when I bake egg-free. https://justtakeabite.com/2020/02/11/how-to-bake-without-eggs/
It’s worth a try!