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It’s no secret I am nuts for nuts. Peanuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, you name it…I eat them. Clearly nuts make a pretty frequent appearance in my recipes in their various forms. But I realize that not everyone is as fortunate to be able to or has the desire to eat nuts. Having a nut allergy must suck not only for the obvious reason that you can’t eat them, but also because obnoxious people like me eat them and talk about them incessantly. I don’t blame you for hating me!
Many people with nut allergies and intolerances opt to replace recipes with nuts with their closely related cousin, seeds. I am also a big lover of seeds believe it or not. In fact pumpkin seed butter may be up there as my favourite nut/seed butter (behind PB & pistachio butter of course). I’ll be honest, I was not blown away by sunflower butter the first time I tried it. Note to self, don’t try making it with salted sunflower seeds. It will taste well…salty. I did however start experimenting and found I came to enjoy it with a bit of added cinnamon and vanilla extract. If you are interested in making your own I usually add 2 cups of sunflower seeds, 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1 tsp of vanilla extract to a food processor and within 5 mins have sunflower seed butter. For this recipe feel free to make your own or use store-bought. If you are making your own, no need to add the additional cinnamon and vanilla extract the recipe calls for.
Since I was in an experimenting mood I thought I would make another interesting substitution. Instead of using cocoa as I normally would I replaced it with unsweetened carob powder. I tried carob chips (similar to chocolate chips) for the first time a few years back in Israel. I immediately loved them. They taste like chocolate with a bit more of an earthy, almost caramel flavour. Carob is part of the legume family that comes from the carob tree. In addition to its awesome taste, carob packs a serious nutritional punch:
-Good source of fibre
-Contains many B vitamins, vitamin A, and many minerals including calcium, magnesium and potassium
-compared to chocolate it is 1/3 less calories and 17x less fat
-It does not contain caffeine
-In chip or bar form less sugar is added because carob is naturally sweeter
Clearly this stuff is pretty awesome. But if you’re more of the chocolate type feel free to just use cocoa powder. I hope this is a recipe that everyone can enjoy!
Sunflower Butter Carob Bites
Prep Time: 15 mins
Keywords: no-bake dessert snack sugar-free nut-free gluten-free dairy-free carob
Ingredients (Yields: 12 balls)
- For the sunflower seed butter center:
- 1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seed butter
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 T coconut flour
- 2 T apple sauce
- 6 drops liquid stevia
- For the carob coating:
- 1/2 cup unsweetened carob powder
- 4 T melted coconut oil
- 6-10 drops liquid stevia
Instructions
1. Mix together all ingredients of the sunflower seed butter center and roll into balls. Set aside
2. Combine carob powder, coconut oil and stevia.
3. Drop balls into carob mixture and coat.
4. Remove from mixture and place on a parchment-lined plate or sheet.
5. Place balls in freezer to set for at least 20 mins.
6. Keep in fridge or freezer.
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Do you have a nut allergy? How do you manage? Have you ever tried carob?
I’m nuts for nuts too! That sounds wrong…but you said it first! 😉 I’ve never tried pumpkin seed butter before hmmmm sounds good though!
Come to think of it that does sound kind of wrong lol!
These look amazing! I went through a phase where I was addicted to sunflower seed butter and ate it straight out of the jar! This looks much tastier than that though! 🙂 I love how healthy this recipe is! I have never heard of Carob either… sounds something worth trying. 🙂 Per usual, your yummy recipes have me thinking I too can cook/bake. I’m a failure, so no to that. 🙂
If any recipe is fool-proof, it’s this!!! I have full confidence you could pull these off. If they didn’t melt along the way I would definitely ship some to you 🙂
These look great Davida!! I don’t know how people live without nut butter… I am SO darn glad that I don’t have any nut allergies!
Same here Karey! But now that I’ve tried out a few seed butters I know I would survive…I just might be a bit more grumpy!
I am really liking the sound of this recipe, and I happen to have sunflower butter in my pantry right now!!
Try em’ out! So easy and delicious. I keep mine in the freezer!
This recipe could not have come at a more perfect time- I have about 1/3 jar of sunflower seed butter begging to be used. And no bake? Too easy. I think if I had a nut allergy, I would save alot of money 😉
Totally agree! The amount of money I spend on nut butters is atrocious! Justin’s Vanilla AB especially…Let me know if you end up making them!
YUM. i’m PMSing something fierce and i almost licked the screen when i saw these. i love how you’re so clever when it comes to baking!
-kathy
Vodka and Soda
Thanks Kathy! Some call it clever, others call is crazy…I throw a bunch of mystery foods together and hope for the best!
Oh WOW these look so amazing!! I just bought Nutzo for the first time (seven nut butter) and it is soooooo yummy!!! I definitely could not live with a nut allergy…those poor people 🙁
I would LOVE to hear how these taste with nutzo. I’ve only heard awesome things about it but it’s a bit pricey so I’m holding out…
My grocery store is totally inadequate! We definitely do not have sunflower butter or pistachio butter or pumpkin seed butter!! I need to get these things so I can make this delicious recipe! 🙂
I usually make my own! I’ve never seen pistachio butter or PSB in a store before but if you have a food processor on hand they are incredibly easy to make yourself!
I should try this. Considering I’m allergic to all kinds of nuts it sucks because I know most healthy recipes call for nuts. I definitely need to try this out. It looks like it would be a great snack !
It must be incredibly challenging Abby! Happy to make more allergy friendly recipes in the future 🙂
I wasn’t totally blown away by sunbutter the first time I tried it either, but I totally grew on me and now I luuurve it!
So happy I gave it another shot!