Sunflower Seed Butter : Make or Buy ?

For the last few months I’ve been playing around with recipes and ideas for possible foods to sell. It’s amazing how recipes that seemingly cost a miniscule amount can quickly add up to where it might be difficult to make a profit.

When I set out to re-make the famous Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies recipe, adapted from Jennifer Cinquepalmi, using sunflower seed butter, I headed to Trader Joe’s. At $3.99 for 16oz and containing sugar, their new sunflower seed butter product gave me pause. Roasting and grinding sunflower seeds myself would more accurately echo the recipe, which called for plain peanut butter. And $3.99 seemed a bit pricey to this peanut butter buyer….and one pound of sunflower seed kernels costs $1.49. Then again, I’d never made “nut” butter before. What’s a dabbler to do?

The country of origin is not marked on either product, but I’m 83.7% sure, based on the price, that the kernels are from China and 91.7% sure that the butter is from U.S.-grown kernels…perhaps Sun Butter. (Do you know? [the company confirmed they are U.S. grown])

The Results

I coated the kernels with a salt water solution then dry roasting them over a flame. Crunchy, toasty deliciousness.

Using a food processor, I whirled the kernels until they became a smooth and gooey butter.

Interestingly, it took 2x as many kernels to make the equivalent amount in butter. 1/2 cup of kernels makes 1/4 cup of butter, not that shocking though when you think of how much more compressed butter or paste is than the raw ingredient.

The Verdict

Buy!

Given that the kernel price comes to $3 for 16 oz of sunflower seed butter, getting the pre-made butter is a much better investment, if the sugar is not an issue. I’ll definitely try the recipe and reduce the sugar a bit but it should be fine.

Flourless Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies (Nutless Wonder Cookies)

• 1 cup sunflower seed butter
• 1 cup brown sugar (if using store bought butter that includes sugar, slightly reduce sugar)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• sea salt
• flax seeds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients together. Place 1/2 tsp size balls on parchment or a stick-free mat on a baking sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes. For chewier cookies remove when they are still soft and seem undone. A true nut free, gluten free crowd pleaser!