The Lunch Lady, with a football player holding a whisk and a chop

The Lunch Lady

Pancake muffins

Tender chocolate chip muffins made with Sunrise pancake mix, served with a bright strawberry spoon jam. A simple bowl-and-whisk breakfast with extra jam for toast.

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By Jared Veldheer

Published

Servings
12 muffins; about 1 cup strawberry jam
Total time
About 35 minutes
Chocolate chip pancake muffins on a sheet pan beside strawberries simmering in a pot for jam.
In the school kitchen.

The strawberry finish

Sunrise Flour Mill pancake mix makes a really good muffin. The fun part of this breakfast was the strawberry jam on the side. Spoon it over a muffin or dip a piece right in.

Make a little extra jam if you can. It's great on bread the next morning. We served the muffins with yogurt parfaits and house granola, but they're good on their own too.

The cornstarch goes into cold water first, then into the hot strawberries. Stir the slurry again right before adding it, because the starch settles. A brief simmer thickens the fruit into a spoonable jam.

Home recipe

Pancake muffins

The Lunch Lady · Jared Veldheer

Servings
12 muffins; about 1 cup strawberry jam
Prep time
About 15 minutes
Cook time
About 12 to 18 minutes; jam cooks alongside
Total time
About 35 minutes

Equipment: One 12-cup standard muffin pan (not a mini or jumbo pan), sieve, mixing bowls, whisk, small saucepan

Ingredients

Check off ingredients as you go.

Pancake muffins

Quick strawberry jam

Instructions

Bake the muffins

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F conventional. Line 12 standard muffin cups or grease them well.
  2. Sift the pancake mix and combine with the sugar. Separately whisk the milk, egg, melted butter and vanilla.
  3. Fold wet into dry just until moistened, then fold in the chocolate chips. A few lumps are fine. Divide evenly among the 12 cups, about 55 to 60 g batter per cup, no more than two-thirds full. If your cups are smaller, bake the extra in additional cups rather than overfilling.
  4. Start checking at 12 minutes; allow roughly 12 to 18 minutes. Remove as soon as the centers spring back lightly and a tester inserted away from a chocolate chip comes out without wet batter. Do not wait for a dark brown top or the end of the time range. Let stand briefly before lifting out.

Make the strawberry jam

  1. While the muffins bake, put the strawberries, sugar and 2 teaspoons of the lemon juice into a saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until the berries release their juice, then simmer about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring and mashing to the texture you like. Frozen berries may need a few extra minutes.
  2. Mix the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon cold water until smooth. Stir it again just before slowly stirring it into the simmering berries.
  3. Bring back to a gentle bubbling simmer and stir for about 1 minute, until thickened and glossy. Remove from the heat. It thickens a little more as it cools.
  4. Taste a cooled spoonful. Add the remaining lemon juice if it needs brightness, or a little more sugar if the berries are tart. Serve warm or cool with the muffins.

Recipe notes

  • This batch fills one standard 12-cup muffin tray that fits over an 18-by-13-inch half sheet. A half sheet underneath is only support for flexible molds; do not spread this muffin batch over the sheet itself.
  • The muffin base follows Sunrise's pancake-mix muffin ratios. Sift and mix gently. Other pancake mixes may need different liquid or leavening, so use their muffin directions if substituting.
  • Cold tap water is enough for the slurry. Ice is optional, not required. The starch thickens when the fruit returns to a simmer; avoid adding dry cornstarch directly to hot fruit.
  • This is a quick refrigerator jam, not a canning recipe. Refrigerate leftovers in a covered container and use within a few days, or freeze extra for later.
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