Ever since Jonathan’s first allergy diagnosis I have been working to remake things that we can all enjoy—it doesn’t seem easy, safe, or even very fair to keep separate foods just for Jonathan. David and I do eat nuts when we’re out, and even some at home when Jonathan is napping, although we’ve pretty much eliminated our store of nuts, save for a few bags in the freezer. I even returned the unopened twin pack of organic peanut butter to Costco—we’ll be doing sunbutter here for the time being. It feels too much like Russian Roulette to make a PB&J for David and a SB&J for Jonathan and hope they don’t switch their sandwiches! Not worth it. Even a little bit.
^^^ I mean, wouldn’t you do anything you could to keep this sweet boy safe?
While I’m grateful that products like Sunbutter (made with sunflower seeds) and Wow Butter (made with toasted soy) exist, they aren’t my favorite, and don’t come close to the taste of real peanut butter. So I’ve started making my own sunbutter and it is SO GOOD. I follow directions from Pretty Prudent, and it is key that you follow the directions carefully. The first time I made sunbutter I just dumped everything in to my food processor and it turned into a gummy paste. Patience is essential—it takes about 20 minutes in the food processor (inactive time). I add about 4 T of avocado oil (I like it creamy!) and 3 T of maple syrup to mine where she indicates.
Also, if you look at most packages of sunflower seeds they say “May contain peanut or nut fragments.” That totally defeats the purpose if you are using sunflower seeds for allergy purposes. I now order my seeds from a company called GERBS that is free of the top 10 allergens!
Once I made my own sun butter I had to turn it into a caramel sauce! This sauce is reminiscent of my Coconut Almond Tart, but it is entirely nut free. I added in some soy sauce a la my Salted Sesame Chocolate Chip Cookies and it is an awesome balance of sweet and salty.
You should basically eat this on anything and everything. I’ll be sharing a recipe later this week for Salted Caramel Granola with Dates and Coconuts.
^^^ Coming later this week….
I’ve also poured this over a vegan aquafaba pavlova, and used this as a filling in Chocolate Coconut Macarons (my recipe is not ready yet—it’s so temperamental so I’m still tweaking and experimenting). I swirled this into some homemade vanilla ice cream last week too. Or a spoon works too. Just eat it—it is so yummy! And it is SO easy to make. 2 minutes. That’s it. What are you waiting for?
^^^ “Mom. What is this? You’re going to let me eat it?”
I’d love for you to follow me on Instagram, and tag photos you post of my recipes with #frieddandelions so that I can see! I love to see your creations!
Salted Caramel Sauce
1/3 c maple syrup
1/3 c homemade sunbutter (or commercial sunbutter or other nut butter if you prefer UPDATE! I used Tahini in this and it was great!!!)
2-3 t soy sauce (I use Bragg’s Aminos, coconut amino work well too to keep it soy free!))
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger
Put all ingredients in a liquid measuring cup, starting with the maple syrup and then adding the sunbutter for easy measuring. Mix well with a fork to make sure spices are evenly distributed. Slather on everything you eat.
