Maple Cinnamon Sunflower Seed Butter

An easy homemade alternative to store bought sunflower seed butter made with maple syrup and cinnamon. Great nut-free alternative for peanut allergies and everyday snacking!

The obsession is real, friends.

I mentioned my newfound love for sunflower seed butter a few weeks ago, and it still hasn’t stopped. By the spoonful, with a banana, on toast, on pancakes and oatmeal, in cookies– I’m using sunbutter everywhere I can.

The only issues I have with the sunflower seed butters on the market are:

1. They’re very hard to find in glass jars. I try to avoid excess plastic packaging as much as possible, and I can only find one plastic-free option on the market…that costs $15 a jar. So I find myself wanting to eat sunflower seed butter, but also not wanting to buy it.
2. They’re rarely (if ever) organic, and I prefer to support organic agriculture as much as possible, not only for my personal health but more importantly, for the health of farmers + the planet. Again, wanting to eat it, but not really wanting to purchase it if it isn’t organic.

So, what’s a girl to do when faced with a deep love of sunflower seed butter but some conflicting morals around her options for purchasing it?

Homemade, baby!

Sorry I called you baby. But really, I had to. Homemade is the way to go (baby!).

Here’s why:

Sunflower seeds are pretty darn cheap, even when organic. Plus, they’re in the bulk section of nearly every store I’ve ever gone to that has a bulk section. Translation: you can bring your own bag/jar and fill up on sunflower seeds without needing to waste any plastic!

They’re also readily available online in large bags, which are still plastic, but significantly less so than purchasing multiple plastic jars of sunbutter.

When you make it yourself, you are in control of the flavor. Hence maple cinnamon sunflower seed butter, which I think is sunbutter’s highest calling, yet.

To make it, all you need to do is roast up some sunflower seeds with a few tablespoons of maple syrup, then transfer to a food processor or blender and grind into a paste with plenty of cinnamon and a pinch of salt.

When it’s as smooth and creamy as you like it, you’re done. Go ahead, stick a spoon in it.

If you’re a fan of sunflower seed butter, you are gong to FLIP over this simple, plastic-free homemade option for sunbutter that’s made with a touch of maple syrup and cinnamon. It’s thick, creamy, and full of roast toasty sunflower seed flavor. Excuse me while I go get a spoonful of it to snack on right now.

If you make this recipe, let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your homemade sunbutter and tag me in it on Instagram so I can see!

Maple Cinnamon Sunflower Seed Butter

Time: 30 minutes
Yields: 1 cup of sunbutter

Ingredients:

• 2 cups raw sunflower seeds
• 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
2. Pour sunflower seeds and maple syrup onto the sheet pan, stir to combine, then spread out into an even layer. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until sunflower seeds are a light golden brown.
3. Let the hot seeds cool for about 5 minutes, so they’re still warm but cool enough to handle, before transferring them to the bowl of a food processor or high powered blender. Add cinnamon and salt, and blend on high until smooth and creamy. In my blender this only takes about 60-75 seconds, but depending on the power of your machine, it could take up to 5 minutes. Be patient, and stop to scrape down the sides, as needed.
4. Transfer your sunbutter to a jar, then let cool completely before putting on the lid and storing at room temperature for up to a month.

NOTES: if your food processor is struggling to go from a thick paste to a creamy seed butter, feel free to add 1-2 Tablespoons of virgin coconut oil to the mix, which will help move everything along. I typically find it’s not needed, but an older machine might need a little help!

This recipe is only slightly sweet; if you prefer a more noticeably sweet sunbutter, feel free to increase the maple syrup to 1/4 cup when roasting the seeds. Do NOT add liquid sweetener to the finished seed butter, or it will seize up. If you taste it and would like it sweeter, I recommend using a granulated sugar like coconut sugar or organic cane sugar, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you’ve reached the level of sweetness you want.

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