Surprise Green Sunflower Seed Cookies
Surprise! They’re green inside! These sunflower seed cookies are sure to create conversation with its natural deep green coloring. They’re great for Saint Patrick’s Day, Christmas, having fun with the kids in the kitchen, or just to add more color to life. These cookies taste great and have a nice bite and chewy texture. There’s also no added food coloring. The chlorophyll (chlorogenic acid) in the sunflower seeds reacts with the baking soda and turns green. Science magic!
Have fun with these unique surprise green sunflower seed cookies! As a bonus, they’re also gluten free and dairy free.
Also try my Candied Ginger Sunflower Butter Cookies! Rich and nutty with a pop of candied ginger.
Featured Ingredient – Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds are a great snack in and of themselves. They’re usually sold with the husk or as kernels with the husk already removed. Sunflower butter/spread makes a great alternative to peanut butter with a nice nutty flavor.
Benefits: Sunflower seeds are rich in healthy fats and antioxidants. They are especially high in Vitamin E and Selenium which may play a role in a variety of health benefits.
Where to get: Sunflower seeds and sunflower seed butter/spread are readily available in grocery stores.
Tips
- If you’re baking your batches one after the other (instead of all at once), the later batches of cookies may have an overall green tint to them. If the dough sits out too long, it’ll start to turn green.
- I don’t flatten the dough balls before baking since they’ll spread and flatten by themselves in the over. Having a little more height for these cookies allow the green to show better.
Surprise Green Sunflower Seed Cookies
Equipment
- High powered blender or food processor (If grounding your own sunflower seed butter)
- Large bowl for mixing
- Measuring cups
- Cookie scoop (I used a small cookie scoop, about 1.25" or 3 cm in diameter)
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup sunflower seed kernels (140g) (or sunflower seed butter if purchasing from the store)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup, grade A
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil (can substitute with preferred vegetable oil)
- ½ cup gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour)
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teas baking soda
Optional toppings
- 3 tbsp large grained sprinkling sugar (optional, for topping)
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar (optional, for rolling in cinnamon sugar)
- ½ teas ground cinnamon (optional, for rolling in cinnamon sugar)
Instructions
- Making sunflower seed butter – Skip this step if using store bought sunflower seed butter. Add 1 cup of sunflower seeds to your blender or food processor. Blend until a fine powder. Depending on your sunflowers, this may also be the consistency of a thick paste. If you have difficulty grinding the sunflower seeds, you can also add the 1/4 cup maple syrup and 1/4 cup oil to help the seeds blend together. Then don't add these ingredients in later steps.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a large bowl, mix together all the dough ingredients. Mix well with a fork or spoon.
- For a cinnamon sugar coating, combine about 3 tbsp sugar and 1/2 teas cinnamon in a small bowl. (optional)
- Scoop the dough and using your hands, roll the dough into balls. If coating in cinnamon sugar, roll the dough balls in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Then place on a pan topped with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Leave about 2 inches between the cookies.
- Sprinkle the sprinkling sugar on top of each cookie.
- Bake for 8-9 minutes. Cool. Be careful not to over bake these cookies, otherwise there will be less green color. Also, these cookies will turn more green as they cool.
Notes
- If you’re baking your batches one after the other (instead of all at once), the later batches of cookies may have an overall green tint to them. If the dough sits out too long, it’ll start to turn green.
- I don’t flatten the dough balls before baking since they’ll spread and flatten by themselves in the over. Having a little more height for these cookies allow the green to show better.