IN THE WEEKS BEFORE I GOT MARRIED, I HANDLED the wedding stress by buying and eating vast quantities of nut butters. It didn’t do good things for the fit of my dress, but it made that very DIY day far more manageable from a stress perspective. It was during that period that I discovered a particularly magnificent line of sunflower butters made in Michigan. They’re not sold in my area, so with shipping, each jar cost nearly $20. The version below does a bang-up job of satisfying my craving, while ringing up somewhere south of $5 for nearly the same volume of butter.
2 cups/225 g raw sunflower seeds
¼ cup/60 ml sunflower oil, divided
½ teaspoon sea salt, plus more as needed
2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste, plus more as needed
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, plus more as needed
Preheat oven to 325°F/165°C/gas 3.
Spread the sunflower seeds out on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast in the oven until the sunflower seeds are fragrant and golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes, stirring the seeds at least twice during baking to ensure even roasting.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the sunflower seeds cool 10 minutes. When they’re cool enough to handle, pour the toasted sunflower seeds into the bowl of a food processor. Add 1 tablespoon sunflower oil and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and begin to run the processor.
As the motor runs and the sunflower seeds break down, drizzle in the remaining 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil.
Continue to process in 10- to 20-second intervals, stopping the motor and removing the lid after each to break up any clumps and scrape down the sides of the processor.
As the contents of the processor begin to look like butter, add the vanilla paste and cinnamon to the bowl of the processor and pulse to incorporate. Taste after they’re fully incorporated and add an additional pinch of cinnamon, vanilla, or salt if necessary.
Scrape the sunflower seed butter into a jar and store in the refrigerator. It will keep up to 1 month.