Do you struggle with a peanut allergy? Let me introduce you to the mighty sunflower seed and its commercial, spreadable greatness in the form of Sunbutter. Here are Sunbuter “peanut butter” cookies 3 ways!
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Peanut Allergy?
Peanut allergies effect around 3 million Americans, depending on what study you’re reading. That’s only about 1% of the population, but peanuts are still the leading allergic food, followed by shellfish. Some peanut allergies are relatively mild and others can be quite dangerous.
Many people have found healing from food allergies when they begin to mend their gut system. You can read one perspective here from Real Food Forager.
Yeast overgrowth can also play a part in allergic reactions to some food. You can read a three part series of articles on yeast overgrowth on our site, beginning here.
You might want to consult with a qualified, holistic doctor about combining healing diets with other medical regimens. Remember to include a medical professional you trust when making big changes if you’re struggling with your overall health.
It’s possible you may heal or grow out of your peanut allergy. However, until you do (or if it sticks with you), you can still enjoy a “peanut butter” cookie that will warm the cockles of your heart.
No Peanut For the Peanut Allergy
Sunbutter brand sunflower spread makes all kinds of different peanut butter substitutes – organic, no sugar added, chunky, you name it! They sent us a bottle of their standard sunflower spread (which contains some sugar, fyi) to try for Cookie Month ’14. I baked up the cookies you’ll find below with it.
The spread can also stand on its own, though.
One particularly stressful night found me digging some Sunbutter out of the jar with a spoon. I dunked the spoon in chocolate chips and ate it down, several maniacal bites at a time. It was delicious. Don’t you judge me.
I’ve just spend the past few weeks repainting nearly every room in my house in the middle of harvest season because my toddler conjures pens and crayons out of thin air with which to decorate the walls. That wouldn’t be so bad, really, if it weren’t for the fact that we’re still showing our house which is for sale and people get turned off by toddler artwork on the walls. I really needed that Sunbutter and chocolate chip combo. Needed.
Sunbutter Cookies 3 Ways for That Peanut Allergy
Paleo Version
Ok, so the first batch I made was a Paleo one – no grain flour, no butter and no sugar. I’m not a big Paleo disciple but eating this way for a time really helped my gut heal. Plus, I enjoy a lot of the recipes. (I’ve settled into this eating-less-grain sort of lifestyle that works for me.)
My go to girl for Paleo recipes is Danielle Walker who blogs at Against All Grain. I have her cookbook by the same name and, since I really can’t improve on her recipes, I’m linking her recipe for Paleo Sunbutter “Peanut Butter” Cookie here.
The Sunbutter worked, as Danielle says it will, perfectly as a peanut butter substitute. Please make sure you’re measuring your baking soda accurately because a mis-measurement may result in bright green cookies.
Funny quirk about sunflower seed butter than you can read more about on Sunbutter’s website.
Only 1 Problem for Me
Here’s my only reservation about these cookies and it has nothing to do with Sunbutter or Danielle’s recipe: I’ve realized that I don’t like coconut flour. Not only do I not like it, I’m one of the few people who can’t eat much of it without a severe gut reaction.
Most people don’t have that reaction and many people enjoy the flavor and texture of coconut flour so I don’t want to discourage you from trying it. I’m just explaining why this wasn’t my favorite of the three cookies.
Gluten Free Version Regardless of Peanut Allergy
The next batch I tried was using the recipe outlined below exactly as its written but replacing regular, whole grain flour with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Flour. This is my favorite gluten free flour of the ones I’ve tried. (We don’t have a gluten or peanut allergy and don’t have to eat either peanut or gluten free entirely, but I enjoy using a wide variety of seeds and grains.)
I have another brand that I got at Costco and its almost the same ingredient list (of course, I don’t know the proportions because they’re not on the bag) as Bob’s. However, this other brand includes arrowroot powder as a binding agent since gluten free dough needs help sticking together.
Now, I know whole foodies go ga-ga over arrowroot powder but I can’t stand the stuff. Its bitter and slimy when used in place of corn starch as a thickener. Bob’s uses potato starch, along with a few other things, in their gluten free flour mix.
Non-GMO Corn Starch
In the FAQ section of their website, Bob’s answers the question Are your products genetically modified?:
“No. All of our products originate from identity-preserved, non-GMO seeds.”
I’m not sure if that means “seed potato” as well (potatoes are most often grown by cuttings of their tubers, not their seed), but I sent them an email to ask and I’ll update this post when I know for sure.
UPDATE!
Here was Bob’s Red Mill’s response to my email and I think its super, extra-crispy, uber cool:
“Hello Tessa,
Thanks for asking about this. This Company has had a commitment to purchase only non-GMO products for over 10 years and this still hasn’t changed. Though it is not on our bag yet, we have recently enrolled in the NON-GMO Project and you can find the details of this in the link provided below. We have over 400 products and our bags will be updated to reflect this in time. Please feel free to contact me if you have any more questions and have a wonderful day.
https://blog.bobsredmill.com/featured-articles/update-our-non-gmo-policy/
Ben Griswold Customer Service”
Gluten Free Sunbutter Cookie Recipe
So, with that goodness inside the flour, know that these gluten free cookies baked up beautifully. My tummy is much happier as a general rule eating gluten free so I was happy, too. Sometimes I can hang with a grain flour, though, and this recipe proved to work just fine for both versions. I got the following recipe off Sunbutter’s website and just tweaked it a bit for my family’s tastes – in that we eat cinnamon and nutmeg is just about everything.

Gluten Free Sunbutter Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Sunbutter
- 1 Cup butter softened
- 1 Cup of raw sugar succanat or coconut sugar
- 2 fresh eggs
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- pinch cardamom
- 2 1/2 Cups flour
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375F/190C
- Cream Sunbutter and butter together until smooth.
- Add sugar and eggs, mixing thoroughly; add vanilla and mix well.
- In a separate bowl, mix together soda, salt, spices and flour until well blended.
- Slowly add dry mix to wet mix, blending about a cup at a time until fully mixed.
- Using your hands, work bits of dough into roughly 1 1/2" balls. These you can roll in sugar for a classic look, if you like.
- Evenly space balls on a cookie sheet and carefully flatten with a fork, criss-crossing for a classic peanut butter cookie look.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Notes
To learn how to make your own powdered sugar, please visit our post on Making Your Own Baking Supplies.
Free Sample
Don’t forget to email me for that FREE sample from The Do It Yourself Homestead! We hope the book will be of use to you, but don’t take our word for it. Here’s what author and chef Stacy Lynn Harris has to say about the book:
FYI. Bob’s Red Mill products are all cross contaminated with nuts. A very bad choice for those with a nut allergy.
I have an email in to Bob’s customer service rep to see if I can confirm or refute that claim. I haven’t been able to find anything on their site that talks about nuts at all so I’m curious what he has to say. I’ll let you know!
Ok, here’s the response from Bob’s Red Mill: Tessa,
It really depends on the type of tree nuts, the sensitivity and which facility the product was packaged in.
About allergens and our facility:
We are a peanut & egg free facility. We have 2 segregated milling & packaging rooms; one is a dedicated gluten free facility and the other is our conventional facility. Nothing ever enters our Gluten Free Facility without having been tested to be free of gluten; so if you don’t see the GF symbol on the front of the package (red circle around wheat with a slash mark through it), then the product was packaged in our conventional facility.
Our Conventional Facility processes almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts, soy, wheat, corn and milk.
Our Gluten Free Facility processes almonds, hazelnuts, soy, and corn. We clean our machinery thoroughly with high pressure air and vacuums between each change in product, as well discard the first 15-25lbs before retail packaging begins. Despite these precautions, we are unable to guarantee that cross-contact has not occurred because of air borne and proximity issues. Our products do run on shared production lines and we only test for Gluten absence in our Gluten Free Facility. Please feel free to contact me if you have any more questions and have a wonderful day.
A few other notable bits of information:
For even more information, see ‘Our Story on Gluten Free’ on our website. This is a bit of a dated video but it will give a good visual representation of what it is like in our GF mill and packaging rooms.
“I am in store staring at the shelves full of your products…how can I tell the difference between products packaged in the Gluten Free Facility and ones packaged in the Conventional Facility? On the front packing of all of our gluten free products there will be a little red circle with a slash mark and a chaff of wheat in the middle. This means the product was tested and packaged in our gluten free facility even if the words “Gluten Free” are not printed across the front of the package. If you do not see either of these indicators then this product will have been processed in our conventional facility and not tested for Gluten.
Best regards,
Ben Griswold
Customer Service
So, while I wouldn’t accuse them of being contaminated, those with a serious nut allergy may decide to avoid their flours. I strongly believe that a lot food allergies can be healed with a healed gut (we’ve seen remarkable things in our family and circle of friends) and that very few of us actually need to LIVE with an allergy. There are always exceptions, of course, and a person should act as they see fit. See my disclaimers for any further information on my responsibility to dispense medical advice. 😉
Where are you getting your information about GMO potatoes? I don’t believe potatoes are a GMO crop. In the last few months a GMO breed was developed, but I don’t believe it’s available yet.
Here’s an article from NPR https://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/01/13/376184710/gmo-potatoes-have-arrived-but-will-anyone-buy-them
and you can find other info on it by searching the internet. (I’m sorry I can’t embed that link for ease of use – I need to contact WordPress and find out what’s up with the site!)
Yep, that’s the breed I was talking about- they’re not on the market yet. Current GM crops in the US are soy (94%), cotton (90%), canola (90%), sugar beets (95%), corn (88%), Hawaiian papaya (more than 50%), zucchini and yellow squash (over 24,000 acres). (https://www.responsibletechnology.org/gmo-basics/gmos-in-food)
Anyway, love the cookies 🙂
Great, thanks!