If you’re packing lunch for a nut-free classroom, this DIY Sunflower Seed Butter recipe is a lifesaver—and money saver, too!

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Unlike tree nuts, sunflower seeds are allergy-friendly, so it’s great that they make a delicious sandwich spread that tastes surprisingly like peanut butter. The only problem is that store-bought can cost a lot and sometimes be overly sweetened, too. So instead of spending money, I spend some time—it doesn’t take much!—to make this DIY sunbutter.

All you need are raw sunflower seeds, salt, and honey or, if you’re sharing with anyone under 12-months-old, agave syrup.

Using raw sunflower seeds is *really* important. Even though you toast them before making sun butter, you can’t use pre-roasted. It seems like it’ll be a shortcut, I know, but it will really just be a disaster since roasted sunflower seeds don’t have enough oil to produce a creamy spread.

Toasting your raw seeds before blending them into a sunbutter gives your sunflower seeds spread an awesome flavor that I think is way better but, if you’re in a time crunch, you can make this without toasting them first. If you like the way it tastes, going straight from the package to the blender will certainly save you time—it’s just a matter of taste.

To make a big batch, I toss 3 cups of raw sunflower seeds into an ungreased pan set over medium heat. I cook them, shaking the pan every minute or so, until they are fragrance and golden brown, about 2 minutes. Then, toss the toasted seeds into a food processor or high powered blender with 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar. Then whiz, whiz, whiz.

At first, the seeds will turn into a fine powder, then a grainy butter—don’t stop here. The longer you process the seeds, the more their oils will release. Keep going and soon, the grainy butter will turn into a creamy spread. Once this happens, you can leave it as chunky or make it as sooth as you like. The whole process can take 8-10 minutes, depending on how powerful your processor or blends is.

If you want to sweeten your sun butter beyond the sugar you’ve added in the beginning (like I do), add some honey to the grainy butter. Do it to taste—I usually add 2-3 teaspoons. You can add cinnamon then, too.

Then enjoy. Add what you don’t eat right away to a sealed container and keep in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks.

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