Confession: I’ve been wanting to make these cookies since I first saw the recipe in March of 2011. I seriously think they were one of the first things I pinned on Pinterest. So, when I happened to come across some chocolate covered sunflower seeds (uh…back in July…), I just had to snatch them up. Two months later, I finally got sick of seeing them in my pantry and decided they needed to meet their destiny.

You see, I’m really not much of a baker. I LOVE to cook, but baking? Meh. I don’t have a big sweet tooth, so that’s probably why it doesn’t appeal to me. However, put something (anything) salty in front of my face and it’s a whole different story. Yikes.

I had to swap out the sunflower seed butter for peanut butter because, you know, I’m on a budget here! Well, that and I’m more of a use-what-ya-got kind of person when it comes to cooking and baking. I’m not one to run out to the store just because I’m missing a couple ingredients. Sometimes that strategy works out for me…sometimes it doesn’t.

Oh, one last thing. If you happen to make these and you’re also a Birchbox subscriber, this is a great way to repurpose some of those cute boxes and colorful sheets of tissue paper you get each month. It’s such a perfectly sized little package!

Would you like a cookie?

Sunflower Seed Cookies (from Eat, Live, Run)

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 cup sunflower seed butter (Or any nut butter! I used peanut butter this time)

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate covered sunflower seeds (I was a little short, so I also added in some plain sunflower seeds that I had on hand)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together butter and brown sugar until well blended. Then stir in peanut/sunflower/almod butter and continue mixing until smooth. Last, add in the egg and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Then add to the wet ingredients. Fold in sunflower seeds.

Form dough into 1 inch balls and press down gently on a lined or lightly sprayed baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden in color.