Homemade cashew/sunflower seed butter recipe

Homemade cashew/sunflower seed butter recipe

• 2.26.2015

I'll keep this post simple--like this recipe.

Nut butter is delicious. I almost never eat peanuts anymore, so I do buy and enjoy almond butter (the grind-your-own is my favorite), but processed nut butters of any kind are a little spendy, and I don't want to overdo my almond consumption, either, so I've gotten to experimenting.

(You can read my DIY almond butter recipe here, as well as my DIY sunflower butter cookies which partially inspired this post!)

Once at the farmers' market I saw a booth of local homemade nut butter blends. We tasted several of them, all very good, but I think they were all like $9 and I knew I could make something similar at home. That was years ago, and look, I finally tried it myself!

As I mentioned in my DIY sunflower butter cookies post, raw sunflower seeds are very affordable compared to most raw nuts. The Winco where I buy buy most of our bulk foods like nuts, unsweetened coconut, etc. usually has raw cashew pieces for about $3/lb. That's so cheap, especially compared to other nuts you can make nut butters with - almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts (!!), pecans... not that price is the only factor in my nut purchasing decisions, and I do consider nut products kind of a treat from our usual diets. But, sunflower seeds are high in protein and magnesium, as well. Although kind of funky tasting in high quantities on their own--so perfect to blend with the slightly sweet taste of raw cashews.

DIY Cashew/Sunflower Butter

Ingredients:

• 1 c. raw sunflower seeds
• 1 c. raw cashews or cashew pieces
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Instructions:

1. Combine cashews and sunflower seeds in food processor (I used a 14-cup one--you could probably also use a smaller one).

One reason this blend works well is that both nuts/seeds are about the same softness so they break down and get creamy at the same pace!

What happens next is wonderful! Watch it transform as you blend.

Stop the food processor and scrape down the sides every few minutes.

You may think it's done when it looks about like this--the key is, go till you think it's done, then go some more!

2. When it looks almost done, add the sea salt (mine is this pink Himalayan).

Pulse, then scrape down the sides again and pulse more.

It will look whipped and smooth, like this, when it's really done!

SO good!!

Store in the fridge. Another plus? It doesn't separate like natural peanut butter does.

We've used it on sliced apples and pears from our CSA for a great treat. It would also be good on celery! I've also heard of people putting sunbutter on burgers... can't personally vouch for that one (yet).

Try it!