Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies- Trail Mix Style

Hello! Happy Labor Day! Hope you all had a relaxing weekend, and were able to enjoy an extra day off! 🙂 

Before I get to the recipe, I want to thank all my new readers! I was checking my site stats the other day, and saw that a few of you have added me to your Google Reader! Thank you so much! And of course, a big thank you to Chelsey for allowing me to guest post and expand my readership! 🙂

A few weeks ago I was flipping through Vegetarian Times, and I saw an ad for Once Again Sunflower Seed Butter. With the ad, there was a recipe for trail mix cookies.  I have wanted to make a similar cookies ever since, and finally had the chance tonight!

These cookies are a cinch to whip together, plus they’re vegan, gluten free, and nut free! Sunflower seed butter can be found at any health food store (and maybe some big box groceries?) and is delicious! I buy Trader Joe’s brand, and love to eat sunflower butter+ jelly sandwiches. Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of Vitamin E, which is an antioxidant and prevents cardiovascular disease.

I would have liked to throw in some walnuts or almonds to add some crunch, but the child care center I work at is nut free, and I want to be able to bring one to snack on if need be.

I was inspired by the recipe from Once Again Nut Butters, but these are my own creation.

Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies- Trail Mix Style

Ingredients

1/2 cup oats

1 cup Bob Mills Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

2 T Chia Seeds

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup sunflower seed butter

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1 ripe banana, mashed

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract 

**Feel free to add in nuts, more dried fruit, or coconut! I really wanted to add the coconut, but John hates it and I want him to try a few. The chia seeds aren’t necessary, but are great for some extra protein and nutrition. **

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350, then mash the banana in a small bowl.

2. Add  brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and sunflower seed butter to the mashed banana.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and chia seeds. 

4. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir with a spatula to combine, then mix in chocolate chips and cranberries. 

5. Plop your cookies onto parchment paper lined baking pans, and bake for 10-12 minutes. 

6. Eat 5 of them. Hey, I did!

These aren’t the prettiest cookies, but they are delicious! Definitely a cookie you could eat for breakfast too. 😉

Check out the nutrional stats! I used Livestrong.com to get the breakdown.

While I was eating my third cookie, I noticed something odd. Umm, why are they green inside?!