Sunbutter Buckeyes {Nut-Free, Gluten-Free, Paleo}

When I was a kid, I loved everything about going back to school.

From our annual trip to JC Penney to buy fall clothes (which was kind of irrelevant because we wore uniforms) to hitting up Staples for our back-to-school supplies, I was in heaven.

I was a picky eater as a kid, so I brought some interesting lunches to school like carrot sticks, yogurt, fruit and crackers or chips, since I didn’t like sandwiches.

I know other parents struggle with feeding their kids healthy food, so I’m here to give you options for them and you!

As I’ve been gearing up for a cooking class I’m teaching about Yummy Snacks for Healthy, Happy Kids on September 16^th, I’ve been doing lots of research and recipe testing to make sure the workshop and recipes are awesome. Click here to register (we’re capping the class at 30 so make sure you sign up soon!).

After finding out that a lot of schools now have peanut and tree-nut restrictions these days due to increased concerns about food allergies, I started testing out more recipes made with seeds instead of nuts.

My friend, Missy, a rock star mama of three, tried the original version of these a couple of weeks ago. She loves sunflower seeds and since they’re made with sunbutter and sunflower seeds, she was a fan.

You can leave them as sunbutter bites, and they taste great!

But, she offered one suggestion to make them irresistible to kids.

Dip them in chocolate.

That’s how I came up with these Sunbutter Buckeyes.

All they needed was a little hint of chocolate to turn them from Bites into Buckeyes 🙂

My friend Tim and Katie’s son, 20-month old son, Jack, tried these the other day and his smile afterward was all the approval I needed!

I’ve since taste-tested them with over a dozen moms and kids (from 18 months to 8-years old), and they were a hit.

You’ll love them, too! 🙂

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, unsalted
• 1/3 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup Medjool dates, packed and pitted (about 10 dates)
• 1/3 cup sunflower seed butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil

Directions

1. Combine pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut, salt and cinnamon in a food processor until it reaches a fine meal.
2. Add dates, sunflower seed butter, and vanilla, and run food processor until all ingredients are combined.
3. Roll dough into tablespoon-sized balls and put on parchment paper in refrigerator to chill.
4. Make your own double burner to melt the chips. Fill a small saucepan with 1 inch water and place a small glass bowl on top. Set the burner to medium low heat. Put chocolate chips and coconut oil in the glass bowl and stir until melted.
5. Remove bites from fridge and dip halfway into chocolate. Set on a sheet of parchment paper and put in fridge to harden (about 10 minutes).

If you haven’t already, make sure you sign up to come to the Yummy Snacks for Healthy, Happy Kids workshop in Baltimore on Wednesday, September 16th!