Sunbutter Cookies

If you've stopped by here before you know that I cook for several special food needs (besides general pickiness). I have one child with reflux and one with nickel allergies, who also has live-threatening peanut and tree nut allergies. For the most part, it's not difficult to work around the peanut and tree nut allergies, but there are certain foods that I really miss having -- like Peanut Butter Cookies.

Before our peanut/tree nut allergies were discovered, I made peanut butter cookies quite a bit. And while I do still allow peanut butter in the house (unlike many families who can't have any nut products around), I have not made peanut butter cookies once since our youngest son's allergies were diagnosed almost 10 years ago. I have occasionally treated myself at bakeries or coffee shops, but those cookies usually pale in comparison to a homemade peanut butter cookies.

Well, the other day I got a bee in my bonnet and the kids and I headed off to Trader Joe's to pick up some Sunbutter. If you've never used this product, it is very peanut butter-like, but made with sunflowers instead of peanuts. And unlike most peanut butter-like products, it is completely and totally peanut free. No "made in a facility that processes peanuts and tree nuts" -- this product is made for people with allergies. We've bought it before, but it's fairly expensive compared to peanut butter and my peanut/tree nut allergy kid doesn't like it (which is fairly common among kids who have never experienced the texture of peanut butter), so I don't go out of my way to buy it very often. But, I wanted cookies.

So, I bought two jars and yesterday I made Sunbutter Cookies. They were wonderful. If I didn't know, I don't think I would be able to tell that they were made with sunflower butter -- and they had the exact same texture as a good, homemade peanut butter cookie. So, if you cook for someone with peanut allergies, and you can get your hands on some Sunbutter, try these for a real treat. My allergy kid would not try them -- he is completely convinced he will not like Sunbutter, but at least I knew that he could try them, and I could eat them without the guilt of excluding anyone.

I used a combination of several recipes, all of which are similar to a standard peanut butter cookie. You use the Sunbutter the same as peanut butter, except that you have to add lemon juice. Apparently sunflower seeds are rich in Cholorgenic acid which discolors baked goods. I read that adding a teaspoon of lemon juice keeps that from happening. My cookies looked just like peanut butter cookies, so I suppose that the trick works.

Sunbutter Cookies

1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. shortening
2/3 c. Sunbutter
2 eggs
1 t. lemon juice
2-1/4 c. flour
1/2 t. soda
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream sugar, shortening and Sunbutter.
Add eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice.
Add soda and flour and mix until blended.
Roll dough in 1-inch balls and
flatten with a sugar-dipped fork
in the characteristic peanut butter cookie style
(you can just flatten with a glass, if desired).
Bake 8 to 10 minutes.
Let cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes and remove to a cooling rack.

.

Pin It