body { background:#fff url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/bg_dots.gif") 50% 0; margin:0; padding:0 10px; text-align:center; font:x-small Verdana,Arial,Sans-serif; color:#333; font-size/* */:/**/small; font-size: /**/small; } /* Page Structure ----------------------------------------------- */ @media all { #content { background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/bg_3dots.gif") no-repeat 250px 50px; width:700px; margin:0 auto; padding:50px 0; text-align:left; } #main { width:450px; float:right; padding:50px 0 20px; font-size:85%; } #main2 { background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/bg_dots2.gif") -100px -100px; padding:20px 10px 15px; } #sidebar { width:200px; float:left; font-size:85%; padding-bottom:20px; } #sidebar2 { background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/bg_dots2.gif") 150px -50px; padding:5px 10px 15px; width:200px; width/* */:/**/180px; width: /**/180px; } } @media handheld { #content { width:90%; } #main { width:100%; float:none; } #sidebar { width:100%; float:none; } #sidebar2 { width:100%; } } html>body #main, html>body #sidebar { /* We only give this fade from white to nothing to browsers that can handle 24-bit transparent PNGs */ background/* */:/**/url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/bg_white_fade.png") repeat-x left bottom; } /* Title & Description ----------------------------------------------- */ @media all { #blog-title { margin:0 0 .5em; font:250%/1.4em Georgia,Serif; color:#353; } #blog-title a { color:#353; text-decoration:none; } #description { margin:0 0 1.75em; color:#996; } #blog-mobile-title { display:none; } #description-mobile { display:none; } } @media handheld { #blog-title { display:none; } #description { display:none; } #blog-mobile-title { display:block; margin:0 0 .5em; font:250%/1.4em Georgia,Serif; color:#353; } #blog-mobile-title a { color:#353; text-decoration:none; } #description-mobile { display:block; margin:0 0 1.75em; color:#996; } } /* Links ----------------------------------------------- */ a:link { color:#488; } a:visited { color:#885; } a:hover { color:#000; } a img { border-width:0; } /* Posts ----------------------------------------------- */ .date-header { margin:0 0 .75em; padding-bottom:.35em; border-bottom:1px dotted #9b9; font:95%/1.4em Georgia,Serif; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.3em; color:#663; } .post { margin:0 0 2.5em; line-height:1.6em; } .post-title { margin:.25em 0; font:bold 130%/1.4em Georgia,Serif; color:#333; } .post-title a, .post-title strong { background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/bg_post_title.gif") no-repeat 0 .25em; display:block; color:#333; text-decoration:none; padding:0 0 1px 45px; } .post-title a:hover { color:#000; } .post p { margin:0 0 .75em; } p.post-footer { margin:0; text-align:right; } p.post-footer em { display:block; float:left; text-align:left; font-style:normal; color:#996; } a.comment-link { /* IE5.0/Win doesn't apply padding to inline elements, so we hide these two declarations from it */ background/* */:/**/url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/icon_comment.gif") no-repeat 0 .25em; padding-left:15px; } html>body a.comment-link { /* Respecified, for IE5/Mac's benefit */ background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/icon_comment.gif") no-repeat 0 .25em; padding-left:15px; } .post img { margin:0 0 5px 0; padding:4px; border:1px solid #cca; } /* Comments ----------------------------------------------- */ #comments { margin:0; } #comments h4 { margin:0 0 10px; border-top:1px dotted #9b9; padding-top:.5em; font:bold 110%/1.4em Georgia,Serif; color:#333; } #comments-block { line-height:1.6em; } .comment-poster { background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/icon_comment.gif") no-repeat 2px .35em; margin:.5em 0 0; padding:0 0 0 20px; font-weight:bold; } .comment-body { margin:0; padding:0 0 0 20px; } .comment-body p { margin:0 0 .5em; } .comment-timestamp { margin:0 0 .5em; padding:0 0 .75em 20px; color:#996; } .comment-timestamp a:link { color:#996; } .deleted-comment { font-style:italic; color:gray; } .paging-control-container { float: right; margin: 0px 6px 0px 0px; font-size: 80%; } .unneeded-paging-control { visibility: hidden; } /* More Sidebar Content ----------------------------------------------- */ .sidebar-title { margin:2em 0 .75em; padding-bottom:.35em; border-bottom:1px dotted #9b9; font:95%/1.4em Georgia,Serif; text-transform:uppercase; letter-spacing:.3em; color:#663; } #sidebar p { margin:0 0 .75em; line-height:1.6em; } #sidebar ul { margin:.5em 0 1em; padding:0 0px; list-style:none; line-height:1.5em; } #sidebar ul li { background:url("http://www.blogblog.com/dots/bullet.gif") no-repeat 3px .45em; margin:0; padding:0 0 5px 15px; } #sidebar p { margin:0 0 .6em; } /* Profile ----------------------------------------------- */ .profile-datablock { margin:0 0 1em; } .profile-img { display:inline; } .profile-img img { float:left; margin:0 8px 5px 0; border:4px solid #cc9; } .profile-data { margin:0; line-height:1.5em; } .profile-data strong { display:block; } .profile-textblock { clear:left; } /* Footer ----------------------------------------------- */ #footer { clear:both; padding:15px 0 0; } #footer hr { display:none; } #footer p { margin:0; } /* Feeds ----------------------------------------------- */ #blogfeeds { } #postfeeds { padding-left: 20px }

Prudent Baby

Get sewing how to, sewing tutorials, and sewing help to learn sewing. We offer sewing tutorial for sewing moms.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

How to Make Sunbutter: The Best Sunflower Butter Recipe!


Sunbutter looks and tastes much like peanut butter, but instead of peanuts, it's made from sunflower seeds. Sunflower butter is 30% lower in fat than peanut butter, chock full of vitamin E, and bonus: when you make it yourself it is entirely free of preservatives & added sugars, AND it is totally safe to send off to nut-free environments. Sunbutter has become a school lunch staple in our household. This stuff costs a fortune to buy pre-made, which is silly because it is SO EASY for Prudent Mamas to make at home.

I've heard many home cooks express frustration with their attempts to make sunbutter, so I thought I'd do a sunbutter recipe and photo tutorial to explain the key to making rich, creamy, nutty-flavored sunbutter. It is all about time.

Get our super-simple sunflower butter recipe after the jump, and prepare to lick your fingers, the spoon, the bowl, and maybe even that spill down your toddler's shirt (don't judge me)...

The Best Sunbutter Recipe

First assemble your ingredients. You'll need unsalted, shelled, plain-old sunflower seeds. You'll also need some salt, sugar (or honey/agave/whatever sweetener you like), and some olive oil. That's it.


Heat a pan on the stove, then toss about 3 cups of sunflower seeds in the hot pan for a minute or two. Keep them moving so they don't burn. Do not buy roasted sunflower seeds thinking you can skip this step (pre-roasted seeds don't have enough moisture to create a creamy sunbutter). Here are my seeds before toasting:


Now my seeds are lightly toasted. You don't NEED to toast them, but it adds a delicious nutty flavor to the seeds. Don't toast them much darker than this, or you'll lose too much moisture and end up with a mealy consistency to your sunbutter.


Now toss them in a food processor with 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon sugar.


Have helper place lid on processor if you wish.


Process into a fine powder consistency (the seeds, not the helper).


This is where many people trip up when making sunbutter. Do not add olive oil yet, or you will end up with a mealy, grainy, unappetizing mess. Sunflower seeds need to process for quite a while, about ten minutes. The reason being that they will eventually begin to release their oils. This will turn your sunflower powder into sunbutter. So after about five minutes, your mixture will start to get a teensy bit moist, but still crumbly, like this:


Keep processing it. Soon it will release more oil, and get a sheen to it, and look more moist:


At this point I add a teaspoon of honey because I like the flavor, but you don't have too. Keep processing and watch as more oils are released, until it starts to resemble peanut butter:


Now have a taste. So good, right? Think about what consistency you prefer your sunbutter to be. While the processor is running, drizzle olive oil into the mixture until it reaches the consistency you desire. For my creamy sunbutter pictured here, I added a little more than a tablespoon of olive oil:


Scrape into a container of some sort. I love these paper containers from Smart and Final.


The lids have two holes in them for venting (these are normally used for take-out soup and hot food), so I cover them with stickers to keep air out so the sunbutter stays fresh. I also write the date, which is silly because the sunbutter doesn't last more than two days, what with child, mother, husband, and even mother-in-law chowing down.



Serve it up with a variety of dippers. I love sunbutter with fresh carrots (cut on a diagonal to release some of those yummy carrot sugars), apples, and of course crackers.


Pack some up with a variety of fruit, veggie, and carb dippers in your tot's lunchbox and you've got a quick, simple, healthy, inexpensive, no-preservative, allergy-free meal. Can't beat it.


Labels: ,

25 Comments:

Blogger Ausmerican Housewife - Creating with Kara Davies said...

Hmm, not a sunflower seed fan but this looks interesting.

August 9, 2011 at 1:11 AM  
Blogger VickiT said...

Ooh I LOVE sunflower seeds but have never tried sunbutter. My kids are all grown but, it appears my first grandchild has peanut allergies so this is awesome. My DIL's sister has three children as well and two of them have peanut allergies so I'll have to pass this on to her as well. Thank you.

August 9, 2011 at 4:01 AM  
Blogger Jeanine The Crafting Fiend said...

I have never heard of sunbutter before! but it looks amazing and peanut butter is my favorite food! I LOVE that this is dairy free too! (which means I can eat it!)
thanks so much for posting this - I'm pinning it and when the sunflowers are done growing I'm gong to get some fresh ones from the local farmer and make this!

August 9, 2011 at 6:30 AM  
Blogger A said...

Yum! How long would this last if it wasn't all eaten in 2 days? I don't think I have time to make this that often...
Thanks!!

August 9, 2011 at 10:49 AM  
Blogger Lindsay said...

Oh hurray! I've been wanting to try sunbutter but unwilling to pay the price. Now I just need a food processor...lol.

August 9, 2011 at 12:10 PM  
Blogger Mariel said...

This might sound like a silly question, but... Do you keep the food processor running for 10 minutes after it looks powdery for it to release the oils or do you let it sit?

August 9, 2011 at 12:10 PM  
Blogger Michelle said...

Never heard of sunflower butter before- we do almond butter which has a nuttier taste than peanuts ans my little ones aren't allergic to it. I need to try this and see if they like it better!

August 9, 2011 at 12:34 PM  
Blogger Michelle said...

PS- ditto on the food processor timing question :)

August 9, 2011 at 12:35 PM  
Blogger Jaime said...

keep that baby running, and stop it to check the consistency every few minutes. it won't do nothin' if you let it sit :)

August 9, 2011 at 1:00 PM  
Blogger Tiffany said...

Always learnin new things here.

August 9, 2011 at 5:47 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I've wanted to try making my own nut butters for some time, but I seriously worry about ruining my food processor! I might be overly paranoid, but it seems like running a food processor for 10 minutes solid can't be good for the motor.

August 9, 2011 at 7:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

OOOH! This looks easy enough!!. .a reason to pull out my food processor and actually use it!

August 10, 2011 at 1:07 AM  
Blogger Kate said...

Would love to try this! Should we refrigerate leftovers? In addition to "A" above, I'd love to know how long it might last... I'm terrible about those back-of-the-fridge-how-long-has-this-BEEN-here?! items. Thanks!

August 10, 2011 at 10:06 AM  
Blogger Rebecca said...

Thanks so much for this recipe! I never tried Sunbutter before, but I want to make it!

August 10, 2011 at 6:09 PM  
Blogger CaroleM said...

It has never occurred to me that there would be such a thing as sunbutter. I really need to try this! I am on a super strict diet right now and this might be something I am actually able eat! Thank you!

August 11, 2011 at 6:45 AM  
Blogger Gina @ Oaxacaborn said...

I tried making my own sunbutter in the past, but always stopped at the "this is where many people trip up" step and it was all grainy. I'm excited to try this again -- I used to buy Trader Joe's Sunbutter every week, but we no longer live near a Trader Joe's and I miss it. Now I just wonder if my food processor is able to run for 10 minutes straight...

August 14, 2011 at 10:17 AM  
Blogger Amanda said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

August 16, 2011 at 3:13 PM  
Blogger Jaime said...

i do refrigerate it after making it. my processor has no problem with running this long, but i'm not sure about all processors, i guess just watch it for overheating and give it a break if it gets too hot.

August 20, 2011 at 8:56 AM  
Blogger Rebecca said...

I'd love to know how long it is good for if not consumed in two days too. I'm definitely passing this recipe along.

September 4, 2011 at 6:40 AM  
Blogger happigranni said...

I'm allergic to peanuts, and really miss my pb&j. Now I have something that looks like it would be easy to make. I live in Arizona and I, too, wonder how long it would last in the fridge?

September 7, 2011 at 2:22 PM  
Blogger Jaime said...

sorry for not answering ladies! i'm not an expert on food safety, but I did experiment by leaving some in the fridge since the day this post went up. One month later it still looks and tastes good, and I ate it without getting ill. So that's all the info I have, HTH!

September 7, 2011 at 3:01 PM  
Blogger Mohka.co.uk said...

What a great post, the recipe is brilliant! Might have to try this over the weekend!
canvas art prints

November 4, 2011 at 6:11 AM  
Blogger Amanda Kaake said...

I'm wondering how much yield a person would get from 16oz of sunflower seeds when making this.

December 5, 2011 at 7:48 PM  
Blogger Amy said...

Jaime, Just wondering what kind of food processor you have. I have a Cuisenart blender/food processor duo and am guessing my results would be better with a full size processor.

January 14, 2012 at 8:31 AM  
Blogger Valerie said...

what an awesome tutorial :) great step by step and pictures!

January 24, 2012 at 7:33 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home