I have a special place in my heart for flourless cookies (and now Sunflower Seed Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.) When I discovered that gluten isn’t my friend, most of my favorite cookie recipes were instantly off-limits. We had transitioned to a vegan diet long before that, so I had already painstakingly converted, written, tweaked, and tested a TON of regular cookie recipes to fit our vegan ways. But the gluten thing, that was a whole new world.
In the midst of all that change though, was one of my all-time favorite cookie recipes for flourless peanut butter cookies. It was the recipe that showed me how a simple cup of peanut butter could transform into a delicious, chewy, totally amazing cookie with very little help.
I’ve tried and tweaked, written, and rewritten that recipe over 20 times. And it was the only cookie I could eat for months while I navigated the new world of gluten-free baking. Now, I know that sounds weird. But we’re a family that LOVES cookies. So to be down to one cookie as an option for my post-dinner sweet snack was a much bigger deal than it probably should have been. But it sure was motivation to figure out a few other options. These Sunflower Seed Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies came from that feisty round of gluten-free cookie baking. And they might just be my favorite gluten-free cookie yet.
What is Sunflower Seed Butter?
Just as natural peanut butter is just ground-up peanuts, sunflower seed butter is just ground-up sunflower seeds. Ok, sometimes they add a little extra oil or salt or whatever. Every label and every brand varies just a bit. But the gist is the same – it’s sunflower seeds in a creamy form.
Sunflower seed butter has its own unique flavor, just like the seeds themselves. We’re so used to nut butter that our brains almost expect it to taste a certain way based on how it looks. But instead of that nuttiness, Sunflower Seed Butter has a deep, earthy flavor. It’s toasty, creamy, and lighter than peanut butter. And also higher in iron, manganese, and vitamin E than peanut butter.
One of the major advantages to Sunflower Seed Butter is that it’s School Safe and Nut-Free! That’s actually why I began experimenting with it in the first place. I wanted to be able to send a safe, homemade cookie to school in my kids’ lunches. And with peanut allergies so prevalent now, I wanted to have a go-to recipe for all of their friends with nut allergies so that no one is ever without an amazing, chewy, chocolate chip cookie!
How to Make Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies
Make sure your sunflower seed butter is really well mixed. It should all be runny, creamy, and spreadable to make the best possible cookies. Prepare your flax eggs, and after 5 minutes, mix them into the smooth, creamy sunflower seed butter, along with the vanilla.
Then add the sugar, salt, and baking powder on top of the wet ingredients. Give them a little stir on top with your spatula, to mix the baking powder and salt evenly into the sugar. Then fold the sugar mixture into the sunflower seed butter mixture. Keep folding and stirring, until the batter is evenly mixed throughout. Then fold in the chocolate chips at the very end.
Use a cookie scoop or spoon to drop 12 cookies on the lined baking sheet. Shape them into balls, and flatten each ball slightly with a press of your fingers. The cookies will spread out a lot while baking, so leave plenty of room between them. Pop the tray of cookies into your preheated oven, and bake for 13-15 minutes or until you see that beautiful cookie “crack” on top.
Let them cool if you want the cookies to stay together, or dig in while they’re gooey, warm and falling apart in your fingers. Either way, they’re addictingly delicious.
These Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies are
- Gooey
- Chocolatey
- Not too sweet
- Toasty
- Creamy
- Nut-free/School Safe
- Easy to make
- Use everyday ingredients
- Gluten-Free
- Delicious!
More Vegan Deliciousness
- 4 Ingredient Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Coconut No Bake Cookies
- Triple Berry Vegan Muffins
If you make these Sunflower Seed Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, let us know how it went in the comments below! Leave a rating or show us your stuff on Instagram #plantednoshery. Thanks for your support in visiting our little vegan food blog. We hope you love these gluten-free, nut-free, totally delicious chocolate chip cookies as much as we do – Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
BEST Sunflower Seed Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – Vegan, GF, Nut free, Oil Free
Ingredients
- 1½ cups Sunbutter (Sunflower seed butter, unsalted) 360g
- 1 cup Organic cane sugar 220g (can sub coconut sugar – flavor and texture will change a bit)
- 2 Flax Eggs see notes
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Baking soda
- ¼ tsp Sea salt
- ¾ cup Dairy free dark chocolate chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F
- Prepare your Creamy Flax Eggs (see notes below)
- In a mixing bowl, stir and fold together the Sunflower seed butter, flax eggs and vanilla until smooth and evenly combined.
- Add the sugar, baking powder and salt. Give the dry ingredients a stir on top of the sunflower seed butter mixture, to let the salt and baking powder combine more evenly with the sugar. Then, fold the dry ingredients into the Sunbutter mixture. Keep folding and stirring until evenly combined.
- Finally, fold in your chocolate chunks.
- Use a cookie scoop or 2 tablespoons or a large cookie scoop to drop 12 balls of dough onto 2 lined cookie sheets. The cookies expand and flatten quite a bit with baking, so use 2 cookie sheets to space out the balls of dough.
- Bake for 14-15 minutes. The cookies will flatten and "crack" while baking, and the insides of the cracks will look just a little bit raw still when the cookies are ready to come out of the oven. They will set while cooling, and this gives them the perfect chewy texture so resist the urge to overbake! They will take 20-30 minutes to cool commpletely to set (maybe more depending on your room temperature). You can also dig in while they're still gooey and warm though – we definitely do. Enjoy!
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