Sunflower Seed Butter, Fruit and Oat Bars

These Sunflower Seed Butter Bars are perfect for school lunches. They also make a great breakfast-on-the-go for grown ups, or a great post-workout snack. They’re allergen free, vegan, and could easily be made gluten-free by using gluten-free oats, and subbing the whole wheat flour out for buckwheat flour.

Why Sunflower Seed Butter?

Firstly, it’s allergen free and therefore a good choice for school lunches. Secondly, sunflower seed butter (aka sunbutter) is loaded with Vitamin E, which is a powerful antioxidant that keeps our skin and organ membranes healthy and strong. Sunflower seeds are also a good source of magnesium, zinc, copper, phosphorus, niacin, and thiamin – all micronutrients that help keep us from getting sick and help us power through our days with energy.

A quick note on nutrition content…

I made these Sunflower Seed Butter Bars with my vegan kid in mind, looking to create a nutrient-dense, energy-dense snack to fuel his growing body. Kids aged 4-18 need about 25 to 35% of their total calories to come from fat, and 10 to 30% of their calories to come from protein. The rest, of course, comes from carbohydrates. These bars fall right in that sweet spot.

If divided into 9 bars, they come out to be about 500 calories, with 30% of (an adult’s) daily calcium, 22% of daily iron. Divide them into 12 and you’ll be at 375 calories, 23% of calcium and 17% of iron.

Now just for the record, I don’t advocate calorie counting! I strive to eat whole, unprocessed foods with minimal oil and minimal sugar, and to let my body take care of itself. That said, when creating recipes to fuel workouts or my kid’s growth, it’s nice to know what ballpark you’re in. Please use these numbers as guidelines, not gospel.

Sunflower Seed Butter, Fruit and Oat Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup dried berries (1/2 cranberries / 1/2 raisins)
• 2 Tbsp ground flax

• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds toasted
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds toasted

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 cups quick oats
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Cinnamon to taste

• 1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 very ripe banana, mashed

Method

• Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9X9 baking pan with parchment paper.
• In a small saucepan, bring the orange juice almost to a boil, add the dried cranberries, raisins, and flax. Remove from heat, cover and set aside. (This will plump up the dried fruit)
• Heat a dry skillet over medium heat and lightly toast the pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Set aside to cool.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
• Now add the sunflower seed butter, sugar, and mashed banana to the orange juice mixture. Mix well.
• Pour the orange juice, sunflower seed butter mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until well incorporated. Pour into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top.
• Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and the bars feel firm to the touch. Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Bake these over the weekend and store in the fridge for a ready-to-go lunchbox snack! And if you aren’t following me on Instagram yet, please follow me at @laceymontreal! I’m pretty active on that platform these days, sometimes posting recipes directly there and not on the blog.