Sunbutter
Cooking Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and coat with a light spray of olive oil. Spread out your sunflower seeds evenly and spray with a light mist of oil. (I buy extra virgin olive oil spray in the grocery store. You could forget the oil completely as sunflower seeds will release their own, but I like to give them a little help. You could also toast them in a pan on the stove if you can’t use your oven.) NOTE: If the sunflower seeds you buy are already roasted, the sunbutter will likely take on a mealy quality because the seeds have lost a lot of their natural oils.
2. Put the pan in the oven, checking the level of “toastiness” every few minutes. The seeds should be LIGHTLY toasted, not brown. If your pan wasn’t big enough to create a single layer of seeds, be sure to mix them up partway through cooking so the seeds on the top don’t cook faster than those on the bottom. Mix as often as necessary until they look uniformly toasted.
3. Combine the toasted sunflower seeds in a blender with the sea salt (and palm sugar, if using it). If you have a high power blender like a VitaMix that comes with a tamper (looks like a plunger) then process on highest speed and use the plunger to push the mixture down into the blades. If you do not have a tamper, you may have to stop the blender periodically to push the mixture down with a wood spoon or spatula. You could also use a food processor on high, but this may take a bit longer. At first, the mixture may look mealy, but keep chugging along and processing it until it begins to look creamier and get a light sheen. Sunflower seeds release their own oils over time – so have patience! You could be processing the mixture up to 10 minutes straight. At about the 5 minute mark, it should definitely start looking creamy, though. At this point, you could add in your teaspoon of honey.
4. Once the mixture gets fairly creamy, add in your olive oil one teaspoon at a time, processing in between. You can lower the speed of your blender just enough so that it will blend the oil in without need to be pushed towards the blades. The result should be a nice creamy sunbutter.
5. Your mixture may be hot from the continuous blending, so spoon it into a mason jar and let it cool off to the side. Once cooled, seal tightly and store in the refrigerator. The mixture may separate if left in the fridge for too long, so if that happens, just give it a good stir before serving.
Serves 5
15 min
This is a Non-Dairy Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 16oz bag RAW sunflower seeds
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 heaping tsp honey
- 1 tsp palm sugar (optional)
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
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4 Responses to “Sunbutter”
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What do you put this on?
Hi Lara,
My husband eats it plain out of the jar, but we also make Paleo PB&J sandwiches using this and strawberry preserves that are sweetened with the juice of apples. We spread it on Paleo sandwich bread that is made using almond butter. You can also dip fruits in it, smear it on Paleo pancakes, make ants on a log with some celery and raisins, or place a hearty dollop in a bowl of Paleo ice cream. It’s pretty much as close a substitute for peanut butter as I have found.
Best,
Jamie
I just couldnt get this to a smooth/runnier consistency. Was too afraid to just keep adding oil. Not entirely sure what I did wrong.
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