But I’m still making my nut and seed butter! It’s so quick and simple—and I like that you can control exactly what’s in it.
How to Make Sunflower Butter
This recipe is specifically for sunflower seed butter, which is perfect for allergy-prone kiddos and their friends. If you’ve never made nut or seed butter at home, don’t worry. It’s really easy and there is very little hands-on time: Going from seed to velvety butter takes about 7 to 8 minutes total. Toast the seeds first. This deepens the flavor and the natural oils are released as the seeds are toasting, which allows you to make this spread with very little additional oil. Then process in a food processor. The mixture will go through a number of stages. First, your seeds will be blitzed into a fine powder, and then turn into a clumpy powder. As you continue to process, the mixture will transform into a ball and become a thick spread. Finally, it will turn into a smooth, loose seed butter. Everyone’s food processor is different, so yours may work a little faster or slower. Just use the visual cues in the recipe below and trust your seed butter instincts! Just a side note: You can actually make this recipe without any added oil at all. I just happen to love the subtle sweetness of coconut oil, so I add it more for flavor rather than to help with the texture. Feeling extra-ambitious?! Grow and harvest your own sunflower seeds! Here’s how.
Ways to Sweeten and Flavor Your Sunflower Butter
For flavoring and sweetening the sunflower seed butter, I like to add a pinch of cinnamon, some coconut oil, some vanilla extract, and a little brown sugar at the very end. Coconut sugar would be great, too. I tend to be conservative, so if you like your butter a bit sweet, add additional sugar, one teaspoon at a time. Taste in between each addition until it’s where you’d like it. In the past, I’ve used liquid sweeteners like maple syrup, but because nuts and seeds have a great deal of natural oil, adding additional water-based liquid to your seed butter can cause it to seize up, so I play it safe these days and use dry sweeteners. Why? In short, the oils gather together and separate from the water, making your nut or seed butter clumpy and difficult to spread.
Chocolate Nutella-Style Sunflower Butter
For a chocolate version, add 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder to the food processor at the very end and process until smooth. If the seed butter is thicker than you’d like, add 1 teaspoon of additional melted coconut oil to loosen it up.
What to Do With Your Sunflower Butter
As for what to do with your sunflower butter? I love to spread it on toast or pancakes. It’s a great kiddo (or adult!) sandwich filling. It’s also delicious mixed into the batter, substituted 1 for 1 for peanut butter, in baked goods such as cookies and brownies. I usually keep mine at room temperature if I know we’ll use it within 2 weeks. Otherwise, I’ll plunk it in the refrigerator, where it’s fine for up to 6 weeks.
Try Sunflower Butter in These Recipes!
Nut-free “Peanut Butter” Chocolate Chip Cookies Chicken Peanut Curry Peanut Butter Honey Granola Bars Apple Peanut Butter Sandwich Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce
If your machine starts getting hot, simply pause the process for a minute or so to let it cool down and proceed.
