Do you know how difficult it is to find an organic/natural nut butter? No? Maybe it’s just me, but I tend to find natural nut butters that require me to stir it before use. That’s my biggest pet peeve with natural nut butters … having to stir peanut butter before I can spread it on bread.
I’ve tried several brands when I searched for organic varieties and never could find something I liked. At least, until now …
Enter Once Again Organic Nut Butters!
Disclaimer: I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com), May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my honest opinion on my blog. The opinions posted are my own.
I was provided a box of 4 varieties of Organic Once Again Nut Butters to try. I’ll get to my thoughts in a little bit, but first I want to share their amazing Sunbutter Trail Mix Cookie recipe! I made a couple changes to their ingredient list to make it a little more allergy friendly. Plus, I changed a small detail about the baking, because I’m a lazy baker! But, generally this is THEIR RECIPE.
For starters, place your baby in an activity seat, pump up some Cotton Eye Joe Radio and get to work. It won’t take long unless you do like I did and try to make a video with an iphone in crappy lighting conditions. You know … place all your ingredients in separate dishes before you can dump them into the mixing bowl? Yeah, I wouldn’t normally do that, but to make things interesting I had to try. And Cotton Eye Joe radio on Pandora sure kept me motivated!
Speaking of which, I think my ridiculous dancing kept the little one slightly more entertained than usual. Or was that a look of concern on his face? Maybe he thought his mommy was having a seizure?! I did not take a video of this, by the way. No sense in scaring you away or having an ambulance called for me. I did survive the making of these cookies!
I digress.
Trail Mix Cookies with Once Again Organic Sunflower Seed Butter
Trail Mix Cookies, Gluten Free & Dairy Free
I've mildly adapted this recipe from a Once Again Nut Butter recipe card. Always be sure to research your products to ensure food allergy safety.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Once Again Organic Lightly Sweetened Sunflower Seed Butter
- 1 cup unsweetened, organic coconut flakes Orig. recipe called for sweetened
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate morsels (Enjoy Life is my preference) orig recipe calls for semi-sweet.
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup dates, chopped approx 8 dates
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup organic maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt I used sea salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to convection bake 350° - my oven bumps the setting to 325° automatically
Place all of the ingredients together in the bowl of your stand mixer.
Mix on medium speed until ingredients are well-combined
Drop generous tablespoon-full portions of dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. I literally used a table spoon from my silverware tray and heaped the dough, making larger cookies!
Bake for 12-14 minutes until cookies are set but soft. Mine took 13 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheets.
Recipe Notes
Using an actual tablespoon will yield smaller cookies, but offer more servings. Original recipe states 30 servings. Because I was extra generous with my dough, I only eeked out 18 cookies.
Enjoy!
These cookies came out moist and delicious. Plus, the toddler LOVED them. I mean, it’s not like I give him much sugary foods, so this went over extremely well. My 5 year old though … she wasn’t nearly as impressed. Totally cool with me … just more for me and the little guy!
Once Again Organic Nut Butters Appeal to My “Crunchy” Side
If you ask at least one of my friends, I’m considered “totally crunchy.” No pun intended there. I consider myself partially crunchy because I believe in balance.
While I prefer organic options, buying all organic is not budget friendly.
Once Again Organic Nut Butters are Non GMO verified. With my health issues, and food intolerances (including the substance found in GMO crops), I need as many Non GMO options I can get my hands on, within reason. Sometimes I sacrifice this necessity because I don’t like spending the money on it. Still, I’m totally in love that these nut butters are Non GMO Project Verified.
Because I can’t afford to waste money on bread that my daughter doesn’t finish in a week, I often buy her the least expensive brand, which I’m sure isn’t very healthy. Knowing that I’m slathering organic, lightly sweetened peanut butter on the toxic junk bread makes me feel a little better about what I’m feeding her.
Balance … it’s all about finding a happy medium.
No Stir
I told you that having to stir peanut butter really irritates me. I mean, if you’re going to make a product that requires stirring, can’t you create a lid with a built-in stirrer so I don’t have to do the work?
Yikes, I bet that product would be expensive …
Thankfully, Once Again Organic Nut Butters are no-stir. I mean, I can’t be more grateful for that. While natural nut butters will separate, I don’t need to stir these every time I open them!
Smooth and Creamy
Oh my gosh, these nut butters are no easy to spread.
Have you ever tried to spread peanut butter on soft bread and the bread just followed the knife, and then sort of ripped? Even on soft white bread, there’s no ripping. The Once Again organic nut butters themselves aren’t very thick, so that helps. Instead, they’re rich and creamy, which makes spreading on bread a dream come true for a mom who makes PB&J at least once a week!