After spending an entire morning this weekend drinking copious amounts of coffee and working on a new budget, I'm determined to carve our food spending down. That may seem unrelated to the title of this post, but I assure you, it's not.
On my last trip to the store I picked up a 16 ounce jar of organic sunbutter and looked at the price tag.
$7.49
I sat it back on the shelf. Thinking to myself that surely, somewhere, there was a recipe for sunflower butter. And I could make it, right? I mean, at least something similar.
The first batch was a bust. I added a bit of water thinking it would thin the sunflower meal. It turned it into a sticky, goopy mess. I'm just telling you, in case maybe you thought it would be a good idea. It's not. I was able to thin it with almond milk to add to baked goods, so it wasn't a total loss.
Then I remembered this. Ah-ha!
Round two was much more successful…..
It's decadent artisan quality amazing goodness. Really. Even the littlest in my bunch gave it a thumbs up. This is a lot coming from a kid who previously only preferred no stir creamy peanut butter. Aside from the delicious factor (and really, it's amazing!) it cost under $4 to make a 16 ounce jar. That's about half the cost of the grocery store variety and no plastic tub to recycle. Woo-hoo! So, did you want the recipe?
I thought so.
cinnamon maple sunflower seed butter
{slightly adapted from Heidi's recipe, which is slightly adapted from the new cookbook, Food in Jars}
1 pound (about 2.5 cups) raw sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp salt
4-5 TBSP coconut oil (or sunflower oil)
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
2 TBSP maple sugar (or syrup)
*Lightly toast the seeds until they have a soft golden brown hue (first photo). Let them cool ten minutes. Add the sunflower seeds & salt to a food processor fitted with an "s" blade. Pulse a little. Next add 2 TBSP of oil and blend away. Blending will take awhile. Don't give up. Stop and scrape down the sides often. KC has an excellent photo tutorial on the process here. Add the cinnamon, vanilla & maple sugar. Blend a good long while to get it all mixed well. If the mixture seems crumbly and dry, you can add more coconut oil one TBSP at a time. Drizzling it in as the food processor runs. It took just over ten minutes to get mine nice and smooth.
*feel free to omit the salt, vanilla & sweetener for a simple seedbutter.
I stored ours in the fridge, which made it sort of hard. But we only use it to put on toast & apples, so this is fine for us. Does anyone store homemade nut/seed butters in the pantry? Will it go rancid? I'd love to know.
One thing is for sure. Apple slices will never be the same…
Enjoy!
Sweetbrier Farms Journal 
I am SO all over this recipe. Thank you!
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I thought of you when I shared it. I could eat it by the spoonful! It's totally amazing. I'll be collecting pecans from the sidewalks of suburbia this fall in hopes to make a pecan version. Enjoy 🙂
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Im gonna have to try this one!!! Yummola!!! Thanks Steph!
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Oh Yum! I’ll be making that this week. I am sure my kids will love it!
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It's pretty amazing! Enjoy 🙂
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Everyone here gives it a "eat it by the spoonful" thumbs up 🙂 I hope your peeps love it too!
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I purchase shelled nuts & butter when on sale. It is just fine to freeze.
The recipe sounds wonderful.
I use sunflower kernels in salads a lot. Last night I fixed coleslaw & sprinkled them in it. Yummy!
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Looks delish, can’t wait to try it. Storage is best in the fridge, once the seeds have been through the food processor they go rancid pretty fast.
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That was my guess too, thank you for the help!
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I purchase bulk raw sunflower seeds and toast them in the toaster oven to sprinkle on salads. We love them too!
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Those apple slices look so good! I’m feeling the urge to go apple picking…
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This is perfect. I was just looking at a bag of sunflower seeds thinking…what am I going to do with these!?
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Me and my issues…so, I avoid the bulk aisle like the plague, because of the cross-contamination potential from the oats and other gluteny things there. (Now my market has an open cereal bar too. Eeep!) I haven’t been terribly successful in finding seeds that don’t have a contamination warning on them, but I haven’t looked in a while. And my food processor is not okay to use, because I used it all the time for wheat flour-containing items. I had to replace my stand mixer because I couldn’t get all the flour out of the nooks and crannies, and I even called the only KitchenAid-authorized maintenance place in the state, and they told me they couldn’t clean it thoroughly enough to be safe, either. So I haven’t replaced the food processor yet.
Luckily, we can eat peanut butter. But these are the challenges I run into! I’d love to do more with seeds, and bulk is so much more economical, but…argh!!
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Would this be easier in the Vitamix? Never sure if something is better suited for it or food processor . . .
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Ohhhh. I wish I knew. I don't have a vitamix. I used my food processor. Maybe if Santa brings me one I'll be able to test nutbutter recipes in it 🙂
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Oh dear. I've already considered starting a gf buying club in the future for some of the reasons you shared. At this point, we are not concerned with trace amounts of contamination, but I know many of people that are! So starting a buying club with certified gf goods would be well worth it!
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I miss apple picking so much. My fingers are crossed that next fall we'll be relocated in a place where we can pick baskets of them! I'm dreaming of apple sauce and dried apple slices and apple pies……. yum!
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Wonderful! I'm glad you have an idea 🙂
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ever since you commented on my blog i have been popping in here getting to know you. this sealed the deal. i’m not going anywhere.
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Oh, you are too sweet 🙂 I'm glad you're sticking around~
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I tested this recipe in both a food processor and a Vitamix before putting it in the book and found that the food processor works so much better (it generally does nut butters better than the Vitamix). The surface area you get with the processor offers a quicker and more efficient butter-making experience.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the sunflower butter!
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Will the consistency be off if you skip the maple?
Just discovered your blog through this recipe- can’t wait to find out more budget buster ideas! Thanks!
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Yum! I’ve made sunflower seed butter before but never with maple and vanilla and cinnamon. That sounds delicious! I make all my own nut butter and always keep it in the pantry. A container doesn’t last too long in my house- maybe a week or so- and I’ve never had a problem with it going bad.
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Oh, that is so good to know. I figure with 5 or 6 of us, it wouldn't last long here either 🙂 I am dreaming of pecan butter next!
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Not at all. It only adds sweetness. I used maple sugar. But you could use honey or sucanat or skip the sweetener all together. Whatever works for you 🙂 Enjoy!
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Wonderful! Thank you for letting us know. It's such a delicious recipe 🙂
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Wow, this looks amazing. I am definitely going to have to give it a try one of these fall weekends. How do you know if nut butter has gone rancid? Sometimes my mother-in-law gives me almond buter from a local shop where she lives, and I often keep it in the cupboard because I don’t like it to get hard. It has always tasted fine, so now I’m wondering how to tell. Thanks.
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Thank you for the mention! When I saw it just now I got butterflies in my tummy! Who silly. I recently made some sunflower butter but I used raw seeds. I am so going to try roasting them, I bet it would make a great improvement in the flavor!
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🙂 This is a great recipe. I have ordered the sunflower seeds. We are a GF family in the UK and the prices of most GF products and these lovely nut butters are so expensive a 500g (16 ounce) jar is £5.20 ($8), so about the same as you. I can get 500g of seeds for £1.80 ($2.90), so this recipe will save me lots 🙂 Thank you for recommending it, we love having it on celery too 🙂 and the kids put little raisins on too to make them into celery boats with people on.. Have a good weekend, Sue x
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Your pictures were just too good not to share! I haven't tried raw sunflower butter… but I did try raw almond butter. With a bit of coconut oil & honey. Amazing!!
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Celery! How could I forget? I'll be sharing that with the kids for lunch today. I was so happy to make it for half the price. I'm glad you are too 🙂
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It will taste really bitter. You would know! I've only had walnuts do that. I'm sure the coconut oil helps it last a bit longer. It seems some folks leave it in the cupboard and use it up in less than two weeks and others store it in the fridge. I hope you like the sunflower butter 🙂
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I had the same problem when I tried adding water to mine, too! Now I have a reason to try again =0) Thank you
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I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought water was a good idea. Oops!
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Just wondering, how many jars does this recipe make?
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One 16 ounce (2 cup capacity) mason jar. You could easily halve or double it though!
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Hi there! I’m new to your blog and also new to canning (stumbled over here from foodinjars.com). How would one go about canning nut butters such as this?
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Er, seed butter, that is. Either way, though.
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I haven't heard of canning nut butter. But it keeps well in the fridge and you could definitely freeze it if you made a big batch 🙂
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I keep calling it nut butter too 🙂
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I’m not sure what happened to mine… I couldn’t get it smooth at all – and I processed it way longer than 10 minutes. I tried adding more oil, but it all just separated and seized into big oily mess. It wouldn’t emulsify at all! Any ideas on what I did wrong or how I can save it? I hate to trash it, but its not spreadable…
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Oh bummer 😦 You can always use it in baking! Don't toss it. I used my first botched batch in cookies. Did you let the toasted nuts cool a little? I find if they are warm or room temp, it works better. If you head to the link in the post you can see photos of the process from my friend KC. I wish I could be more helpful!
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Why have I not found your blog sooner? Was reading Marissa’s (food in jars) today and found you through her. I can’t wait to try your nut butter. I only buy all natural peanut butter and sometimes make my own, but I have never tried using sunflower seeds; it sound amazing. Thanks for a great recipe that I will be trying soon. And I just bought some pure maple sugar, too!
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Thank you Patricia 🙂 I hope you like the recipe…. I have been wanting to try it with almonds. Our favorite almond butter is raw almonds with a bit of maple syrup and sea salt. It uses a vegetable oil, but I think coconut oil might work + be really yummy!
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I just found this on Pinterest and I am hooked! I don’t have any maple syrup (prohibitively expensive here in Tasmania) but will use date paste instead. Cheers for the amazebouche in advance. Now I just have to work out how to hide this from myself…does closing your eyes and shoving it “somewhere” work? 😉
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It's so good, right? I think honey might work well too, though I have yet to try it. Good luck hiding it! We always devour it quickly here……
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Thanks for this recipe 🙂
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Yes, enjoy 🙂 It is so delicious……
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