With my not-peanut butter cookie recipe, peanut butter is replaced with any smooth seed or nut butter loved most – without compromise on taste or texture for this beloved classic. At home and at work, I’m baking Sunflower Seed Cookies. We love them!
Oh, and you can absolutely use peanut butter in this recipe. Your choice. Peanuts simply aren’t allowed in my kitchen, and I’ve developed peanut and tree nut free recipes for home and my dessert catering work via Mili’s Sweets. A couple alternatives to peanut butter: sunflower seed butter, or almond butter. In the recipe details, I share how to make this cookie recipe vegan and/or gluten free. I’m using Sunflower Seed Butter.
What we’re baking: an all-around golden cookie, with slightly crisp edges, and a soft-chewy center.
sunflower seed butter cookies
Ingredients
cookie recipe
- 1 cup salted butter (8 oz. or two sticks of classic (I used salted butter) For a vegan sub: switch-out for 3/4 cup vegan butter
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs vegan sub: switch-out for egg replacer. I tend to use Bob's Red Mill brand.
- 3/4 cup any smooth seed or nut butter nut-free: sunflower seed butter peanut butter subs: almond or cashew
- 2 cups all purpose flour gluten free: switch-out with 1:1 ratio gluten free all purpose flour
cookie-coating
- 1/4 cup granulated or crystalized sugar
Instructions
Cookie Dough
- In a bowl, cream slightly-softened butter. Combine sugars and vanilla extract. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt. Cream in the eggs until totally combined. If necessary, scrape the bowl to incorporate everything.
- Add flour and a smooth seed or nut-butter of your choice. Mix until smooth and totally combined.
- Refrigerate the dough for about an hour before preparing balls to bake into cookies.
- Roll cookie dough into balls. You can refrigerate these up until you're ready to bake, (for up to a few days) or freeze the prepared dough for up to a month.
Baking Cookies
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (176 C). On a cookie sheet, keep balls as is, or 'fork-down' the balls in a criss-cross pattern. Sprinkle with a generous coating of granulated or crystalized sugar. Bake for 9-11 minutes, depending on your oven and how chewy or crisp you prefer the center of your cookie.
- While they are hot from the oven, dust or sprinkle a little more sugar so it stocks to the top. Let the cookies cool on the hot pan for a couple of minutes before transferring.
- Allow to cool completely. Store in an air tight container for up to a four days.
