I have been waiting to write and share this blog post for MONTHS. This has got to be my most interesting/funny Meltdown-friendly cooking experience to date, but the timing of the post had to be juuuust right. Keep reading to find out what happened!
Paleo Cinnamon Swirl Bread http://lowcarboneday.com/2012/11/paleo-pen-pals-and-cinnamon-swirl-bread.html
- 1 cup sunflower seed/other nut butter
- ¼ cup Splenda
- 3 eggs
- 1 Tbsp vinegar
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp Splenda
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon – I’d use way more if you like cinnamon at all!
Preheat oven to 350. Mix together seed butter, Splenda, and eggs. Add vinegar, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined. Spread half the batter into lightly sprayed loaf pan. In small bowl combine Splenda and cinnamon. Sprinkle mixture evenly on top of bread batter. Run knife through bread to create swirl throughout. Top with remaining bread mixture and smooth top. Bake 30-40 min. Cool before slicing. Makes 8 fat servings.
…Ok, so around Halloween of last year, I finally got my hands on some sunflower seed butter (warning you now, it’s not cheap, especially for no-sugar added but still worth reading this blog!) just to try this recipe because I’m completely obsessed with anything cinnamony. I had no clue why it called for sunflower seed butter and figured I could try with peanut butter another time, but wanted my first go-round to be just as the recipe outlined and thought perhaps this butter had a more subtle flavor so my bread didn’t taste like peanut butter. I decided to make muffins instead of loaf-style bread to help with portion control. The night I baked I just had to try one! I’d never made a bread from seed/nut butter so I was quite curious about the texture. I cut it open and this is the lovely look and texture of my muffin:
Not bad. I’d personally like a ton more cinnamon and maybe a little more liquid (or less baking) since the texture was a bit dry. [Luckily I had made a new jam recipe that was delish on it and helped with the dryness but you have to wait until summer for that recipe!] Anyway, that was mid-week, and that Saturday I decided to serve them to my boyfriend for breakfast when he was in town. Andy’s an adventurous eater and never turns his nose up at my healthy cooking and baking. We sat at my kitchen counter and dove into the new creation only to respond with shock and horror, for THIS is what we found:
While I immediately lost it and was so perplexed how and upset that these muffins had somehow intensely gone bad in a couple of days so the pricey ingredients were wasted, my level-headed and curious-as-a-cat Andy started Googling. Here’s what he found about someone who used sunflower seed butter for a peanut butter cookie recipe:
I first wanted to make these cookies for St. Patrick’s Day because sunflower butter has the unique property of turning green under certain baking conditions! The naturally occurring chlorogenic acid that is found in all plant leaves and stems is also present in the seeds of the sunflower. Chlorogenic acid is an antioxidant and is one of the reasons that sunflower butter is good for you (as well as being a great source of vegetable protein, potassium, vitamin E, and other vitamins and minerals). When chlorogenic acid meets alkaline baking conditions (e.g., if you add baking soda), it turns a dark green. This completely harmless effect happens after the cookies completely cool down (and increases with additional hours.) Green cookies! That sounded perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. Well, except after I made the version using baking soda, I realized it really wasn’t a happy bright green, but more of an ominous “something evil is growing in this cookie” dark mossy green. (https://www.facebook.com/notes/cooking-with-trader-joes/sunflower-butter-cookies/368109633075)
So there you have it! These goodies have natural chameleon-like properties that green with time (the longer they sit the darker green they become) and make them a fun addition to a St. Patrick’s Day party…or blog! (Or perhaps I was dead-on the first time making them around Halloween as the notes above say!) I figured I’d post this a week early so you had more time to get your hands on sunflower seed butter before the Irish holiday. Below you’ll find a repost of a common healthy peanut butter cookie recipe that you can try with sunflower seed butter as a replacement to make green cookies. A commenter to the notes above said that the batter turns green after sitting awhile so you may be able to make all-green (as opposed to SURPRISE-inside! green) baked goods.
Sunflower Seed (subbed for Peanut) Butter Cookies http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0%2C1810%2C155188-251199%2C00.html
- 1 c sunflower seed butter (pb sub)
- 1 c Splenda
- 1 t baking soda
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
Preheat the oven to 350° and mix peanut butter with Splenda, baking soda and egg. Roll tablespoons of the dough into 16 balls. Bake for 8-12 min, until the cookies are lightly browned and set. Let cool on a wire rack. Makes 8 fat servings (2 T pb each), about 16 small cookies, so 2 small cookies = 1 fat serving. (Feel free to halve this recipe. I’ve done a half recipe with both a half egg – whisk then just use half – and a whole egg and either way works fine.)
I know you’re all clamoring to find out WHERE CAN I GET THIS STUFF?! Here are three brand varieties of no-sugar added sunflower butter, also available on Amazon.com:
http://www.vitacost.com/maranatha-all-natural-sunflower-seed-butter-12-oz
http://www.vitacost.com/sungold-foods-sunbutter-sunflower-seed-spread-creamy-organic-16-oz
http://www.vitacost.com/once-again-organic-sugar-and-salt-free-sunflower-seed-butter-16-oz-2
Feel free to Google your own research on chlorogenic acid and its properties in baking! Until next Friday, feast for St. Patty’s Day, feast GREEN, and as always…FEAST ON!!!
~Coach Lauren
