Homemade Sunflower Seed Butter

You know I'm always looking for a good buy, but not at the cost of extensive labor.  Recently, I came across this website that claims you can save $300.00 a year if you make your own sunflower seed butter.  I'm definitely saving money making it myself.  For $6.99 I was able to buy 2lbs of sunflower seeds, roast them and make 2 small Ball size jars of sunflower seed butter.  Around here Nature's Promise sells the same sized jar of sunflower seed butter for 4.39 a jar.  As I see it I would pay $8.78 for 2 store bought jars or $6.99 for 2 homemade jars of sunflower seed butter.  Being that I go through at least a jar a week that's about $50.00 worth of savings for me.  If you use more then that or your sunflower seeds are cheaper then I paid for them then you could be savings even more.

This is the website I used for my recipe inspiration.  I made the language a lot simpler and cut out the liquid stevia.  I also made it so that it makes exactly 2 jars of sunflower seed butter.

Take 2 pounds of unsalted sunflower seeds and place them on 2 baking sheets.  Roast them in a 325 degree oven for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown.  Make sure you roast them, don't skip this step.  That's where your flavor comes from.

Once roasted place your sunflower seeds in a food processor.  Depending on your processors size you might have to do this in two steps.  Process until the seeds are of a flour like texture and starts to clump together (that's the natural oils coming out).  At this point you can drizzle in 4-5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.  If you like it extra creamy add more oil.  Continue to process until very smooth.  Be patient, it takes a couple of minutes.  While still on add 3/4 teaspoons of salt.

Divide sunflower seed butter into two small glass jars and store in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.  The website I got the inspiration for this recipe from says you can leave the jar in your pantry for 2-3 weeks, but I get sketchy about that.