There’s no shortage of peanut butter recipes on my blog.
I adore anything with peanut butter in it.
And I love making homemade peanut butter. In my first cookbook, Peanut Butter Comfort, there are 27 recipes for homemade peanut butter variations.
But I’ll cheat on my beloved peanut butter for Sunflower Seed Butter. There’s a certain nuttiness, earthiness, and distinct flavor that’s unique and fabulous.
I made a hybrid using both sunflower seeds and peanuts, marrying my two favorite butters into one. It’s creamy, drippy, and velvety smooth. It’s nothing like the texture of most commercially-made peanut butters.
I prefer to bake with those kind of classic peanut butters because they yield the best, fluffiest, and most consistent results in cookies and bars, but for eating straight out of the jar (who needs bread), nothing compares to homemade.
If you’ve never made peanut butter before, this post has step-by-step photos showcasing each stage the peanuts go through before turning into peanut butter. This post is similar using sunflower seeds.
Most notably, make sure you have a full-sized food processor, put the seeds in first, and let them process for 10 to 15 minutes, or until you see the early stages of sunflower seed butter before adding the peanuts.
While the food processor works its magic, go organize your closet, de-clutter your car, or find something outside that needs attention. It’s a loud, somewhat lengthy process and you don’t have to stand around babysitting it. Nothing ‘bad’ can happen by ‘over-processing’ and if anything, the longer the better an ultra-smooth spread.
It’s silky smooth with such rich flavors. Interestingly, the spread tasted better as time passed. It was good coming out of the food processor but a few days later, it was even better. And about a week later the flavors had married and mellowed, and the little bit I had left in the jar was heavenly.
It’s so hard to resist dipping my spoon into the jar, over and over, until it’s gone.
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Sunflower Seed Peanut Butter
Ingredients
- 2 cups sunflower seeds, shelled (I use roasted and lightly salted; use your favorite)
- 2 cups peanuts, shelled (I used roasted and lightly salted here; honey roasted are excellent)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional and to taste
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
Instructions
- To the canister of a full-sized food processor (not a mini, Magic Bullet, etc.), add sunflower seeds and process on high power until broken down, creamy and beginning to smooth out, about 10 to 20 minutes. Stop to scrape down the sides of the canister if necessary; however, I find the less scraping and interruptions, the better. The seeds go through stages: crushed, crushed into a fine powder, a paste, a thicker paste, a big ‘dough ball’, and then the ball breaks down into runnier sunflower seed butter.
- At the point the sunflower seed butter is runny or nearly so, add the peanuts through the feed tube. Process for about 10 minutes, or until the spread is as smooth, buttery, and as creamy as desired. I’ve never experienced harm in ‘over-processing’ and always process about 2 minutes more after I think the spread is done to ensure it’s as silky smooth as possible.
- Optionally, through the feed tube add vanilla, salt, and process until incorporated, about 1 minute.
- Transfer to an airtight container, preferably a glass jar with lid. Spread firms up some as it cools, but stays quite soft and runny; it doesn’t separate. Spread will keep airtight at room temperature for weeks and for months in the fridge (hardens some but softens at room temp). No preservatives are added so use common sense with storage. Recipe as written is vegan and gluten-free.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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