SunButter is the Best Butter

(Left) Original (Right) Natural No Sugar

I am proud to say that not only am I an official SunButter Blogger but one of the perks are getting to try out new products that they have....talk about a win-win! The latest SunButter item that has just come out was their Natural No Sugar Added. I know what you are thinking, why mess with a good thing but I have to say, this is my personal favorite yet! What's in it? Two ingredients- sunflower seed and salt. Simple yet very tasty. The consistency seems much smoother and easier to stir. And because I am a visual person, I am sharing the side-by-side comparisons to prove how smooth it is. I mean gosh, how did they get it so smooth?!

The taste - still that good, old SunButter flavor but not as strong and (dare I say) if you miss peanut butter, I personally think this is pretty close to that peanut butter taste. No hard feelings meant- just trying to relate to those fellow peanut less homes out there. I have learned that when you find a really good substitute for foods that you miss, I need to stock up on it and tell the world so that they know it's out there too.

What Did I Do With It? You know that I always try to come up with unique and different things to do with foods, especially since people often feel as if food allergies hinders what they can do with foods. I say, not so! It's just about how to think of new ways to utilize what foods you can have. What I wanted to share with all of you was the idea that my daughter got all by herself. I'm sure you will see that she thinks outside of the box like I do (well, outside of the SunButter jar!) When I asked her what she would do with SunButter if she could use it in any way, she sat up in bed and said "Finger paint that you can eat!" I was so proud of her idea that I promised to share it with all of you. (To view her video, please click HERE .)

And of course, with the weather being so cold for sooooooo long (well, it seemed like it anyway) I whipped up some Simple SunButter Muffins that were very well received.

Simple SunButter Muffins
1 Cup white rice flour
Egg replacer = 1 egg
2 Tablespoons raw honey
2 Tablespoons Winona Pure Sunflower Baking Spray
2 Teaspoons gluten free baking powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 ½ Cups milk dairy milk of your choice
2 Teaspoons Natural No Sugar Added SunButter
Enjoy Life Foods chocolate chips and 8 Mega Chunks

Preheat oven to 450°. Line a muffin pan with baking cups and set aside. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the Mega Chunks. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling half way. Top with one Mega Chunk. Bake approximately 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 8 muffins

In the midst of the experimentation process, I came across a few pet peeves- the dreaded "Second-Hand SunButter"- blah! I love SunButter as much as the next person but I get grossed out when I find remnants on the outside of the jar (not to mention, what a waste!) or on my kitchen faucet handles. Washing hands- a plus but reaching and feeling that weird squish and not knowing what it is at first...(shuddering) I know that I have issues and I am ok with that. And I am willing to bet that many of you are reading this and saying "Yes, OMG, me too!" Eating and cooking with SunButter is definitely ok but finding it in unexpected places it just kinda creepy and ooky.

After I had my mini grossed-out fit, I began thinking of foods... and I wondered what it would taste like to make a fried chicken recipe with SunButter. I did have a brief Elvis moment but I pushed that right out of my head and continued. I will warn you that this recipe is strictly an oven fried chicken- DO NOT FRY IT! I did and I wound up with this icky,brownish muck. (Hey, who knew SunButter did this when cooked?) Well, now I know and you just live and learn. In my defense, there are no statements that warn you of this (tee hee).


Oven Fried SunButter Chicken
This will be a tender, slightly crunchy fried chicken with a creamy taste to it

2 Cups Glutino Gluten Free Pretzels (chopped fine)
1/2 Cup cornmeal mix
1/2 Teaspoon paprika
1 Teaspoon sea salt
1/2 Cup Natural No Sugar Added SunButter
1 Pound chicken fillets (cleaned and pounded thin)
Winona Pure baking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the chopped pretzels, cornmeal, paprika and sea salt.

In another large bowl, scoop out the SunButter. Place the chicken fillets into the Sunbutter, coating the chicken with less (rather than too much) SunButter. Transfer the fillets to the crumb mixture, coat and place onto an ungreased baking sheet. Spray each prepared fillet lightly with a bit of baking spray.

Bake for 10 minutes, then gently flip. Continue baking another 10 minutes or until no pink remains inside of the chicken.

*Optional- are you a spicy chicken lover? Try adding a bit of hot sauce into the SunButter bowl before breading.

Serving sizes may vary depending on how you cut them

But Wait, There's More! Yes, this time NutriDaughter and I were both beaming with ideas to try out. We put our Nutri heads together and we each came up with one more recipe but with two variations. How about a delicious, tempting hot beverage? Oh, maybe some hot cocoa drizzled with some warmed SunButter? The result was a hot cocoa that seemed like a liquid candy bar. It hit all of our "must have" sensors.

Sinful SunButter Cocoa
2 Cups dairy free milk of your choice (we used sweetened vanilla almond)
4 Tablespoons sugar
5 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Teaspoon sea salt
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla
1 Teaspoon coconut oil
3 Tablespoons Natural No Sugar Added SunButter
*Optional- Marshmallows, chocolate chips or chocolate shavings

In a medium pot, combine all of the ingredients except for the SunButter and optional items. Stir with a whisk until the milk becomes hot and frothy. Pour into mugs.

Warm the SunButter on low (just enough to make it liquidy but not too high or it will begin to chunk together).

Add optional toppings to the prepared mugs and drizzle with warmed SunButter.

Makes approximately 2 cups

 Too Hot For Cocoa? Yes but we have that covered too! (this is where the dual recipe comes in). Remember fudge popsicles? Is it me or is it truly impossible to find a dairy-free version out there? No need, you can make your own!

SunButter Fudge Pops
Simply use the prepared recipe for "Sinful SunButter Cocoa" and pour it into the sections of a mini muffin tin. Top with your choice of options (marshmallows, chocolate chips or shavings, crushed allergy-friendly cookies), drizzle with softened SunButter and freeze.

Once frozen, remove the tray and let it sit on a counter top for a few minutes to soften enough to remove. Caution- these soften very quickly so keep an eye on them. If they become too soft, simply put back into the freezer to reform and repeat.

Once softened, remove and place in an airtight container. Enjoy as needed.

Makes approximately 18 pops

But I like Non-Frozen Desserts- That's ok too, dessert is dessert, right? Most of us have cookouts during the warmer weather and what is the most awesome cookout dessert? S'MORES! But alas, how many times have you not been able to find a suitable, safe gluten free cracker to make a proper s'more? We didn't either so we skipped the cracker, went straight to a chocolate sandwich (thank you Enjoy Life Foods) added a touch of Natural No Sugar Added SunButter and the SunButter Challow was born! (Challow....Chocolate Mallow) Can we say YUM! Well, we did in between licking fingers and making more.

No Funky Experiments? Ha, don't kid yourself. As I said, I try all sorts of things with foods. I was looking at my feet (because you do when you start to wear sandals and open shoes). My heels are a bit dry. Not so ladylike. So with some strange looks from my family, I grabbed some SunButter that night, a pair of comfy socks and I went to town. Weird, yes but you never know unless you try, right? I do admit- it is kind of horrifying to look at...kind of like baby diarrhea on your feet (sorry, SunButter, no offense meant). What do you expect- it was not meant for feet but for eating.

The result- not really sure if it worked as well as I hoped it might. My feet were softer but they were also kind of orange looking for a bit. I don't think using the SunButter was any different than using a deep moisturizing lotion. If you do try it, I recommend heavy socks and slippers as the SunButter oozes through the socks pretty easily.

Finally, Are You Done Now? Admittedly, this was a longer post than usual but I had to share it all. I HAD to! I do want to thank the folks at SunButter for allowing me to do what I do for them. I am so excited that they keep coming up with new products that are always great for us as well as allergy-friendly. I know that some other products claim that you can "taste the rainbow" but I think this is a much better rainbow to taste~