Classic Kiss Sun Butter Blossom Cookies made without peanuts or tree nuts. Super easy to make taste amazing! Perfect for holidays. (Gluten free)
A holiday classic, these sun butter blossom cookies have been made peanut and tree nut free so everyone can enjoy them! Using sun butter, you get the same satisfying nutty flavor. Rolled in sanding sugar and topped with a little Kiss candy, it is a classic cookie that everyone can enjoy.
Best Nut / Seed Butter
I’ve found that this recipe works amazing with sun butter. However, you can use any seed / nut butter that is safe for you to enjoy.
It doesn’t matter if you use crunchy or smooth sun butter. My personal favorite is the crunchy for the fun texture it brings to the cookies.
Ingredients
Unsalted Butter - Using unsalted butter means that you can totally control the amount of salt in your recipe, making for a better cookie.
Sun Butter - When it comes to the sun butter, making sure you have a good quality butter is what will make or break your cookie! Crunchy or smooth doesn’t matter.
Cream Cheese - This helps to prevent the cookies from turning green! Sometimes baking with sun butter, the final bake can turn green from the chlorophyll in the seeds themselves. This is totally natural and doesn’t harm the food in any way. It just is green! But to make this less likely to happen, adding a little acidity in the form of cream cheese helps.
Sugar - You need two amounts, one for the cookie dough and some extra sugar to roll the cookies in before baking.
Brown Sugar - This helps to keep everything soft and sweet!
Egg - Eggs hold your recipe together and help to keep things from being too cakey.
Vanilla Extract - Pure vanilla extract is an essential to these cookies. It brings out the sweetness of the sun butter.
Cream of Tartar - This helps the cookies to rise, keeps their round shape, and also aids in the prevention of the cookies turning green. Don’t skip this!
Flour - I use a gluten free flour mix since I’m allergic to wheat, however, these cookies can also be made with wheat all purpose flour. Use what is safe for you!
Kiss Candies - The final piece to these cookies! Traditionally, these cookies were made with a star chocolate that made them look more like flowers, but today bakers tend to use kiss candies since they are readily available. But any chocolate candy will taste delicious a top these cookies!
How to Make Sun Butter Blossom Cookies
In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or in a stand mixer, cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sun butter. You want this to get super light and fluffy so mix it together for about 5 minutes.
Add the white sugar and brown sugar and mix for a few minutes more. The longer you cream this, the fluffier the cookie will be!
Now add in the egg and vanilla extract. Give it a quick mix before adding the cream of tartar, baking powder, and flour of your choice. Turn the mixer back up and let it all combine into a smooth dough.
Preheat the oven to 375F and prepare 3 cookie trays with parchment paper.
Shape the cookie dough into about 1-inch balls between your hands. Give them a roll in the sanding sugar (or more white sugar) before placing them on the cookie tray. Finally, give them a little squish to help their shape form in the oven. Don’t flatten them all the way, just take away a bit of the roundness, if that makes sense.
Bake these cookies for 8-9 minutes on a dark tray and 10-11 on a lighter tray.
Immediately after removing from the oven, place a single kiss candy on each cookie. Let the cookies cool completely before enjoying or storing.
Sun Butter Blossoms for Cookie Exchanges
I don’t think a cookie exchange would be complete without these classics. Here are a few tips for making sure you bring your best cookies each time.
Cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days in an airtight container. If you need to store longer, place a slice of bread in the container to keep the cookies soft. If needing to store cookies longer, place them in the freezer for up to 2 months. Allow cookies to come to room temperature before enjoying.
Refrigerating these cookies can cause the chocolate to become a little less shiny and develop a film. It doesn’t affect the taste or safety of the cookies, but just be aware this can happen!
Have fun rolling in different sugars or sprinkles to change up the appearance of your cookies! Red and green or blue and white sanding sugars look awesome on these cookies for the holidays. And multicolored sprinkles are fun all year long.
Allergy Variations
To make these cookies dairy free, use your favorite non-dairy butter and cream cheese.
While I haven’t made these cookies egg free before, I would add a tablespoon of ground flax seeds into the dough in place of the egg. If you try this, please let me know how it turns out for you!
Happy Holidays, sweet friends! I hope you enjoy these sun butter blossom cookies!!
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Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup sun butter (or other nut butter of choice)
- ¼ cup cream cheese of choice
- ½ cup butter of choice
- ½ cup white sugar plus more for rolling
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cups flour of choice
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- sprinkle salt
- 36 Kiss Candies
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and line 3 baking trays with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or a stand mixer, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sun butter until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add sugar and brown sugar and mix well.
- Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix until egg is fully incorporated.
- Add the cream of tartar, baking powder, and flour. Give it a good mix on medium speed until the dough comes together and is smooth.
- Shape dough between hands into 1-inch dough balls. Roll in more sugar before placing on prepared cookie trays. Gently press each cookie to flatten slightly. Repeat till all cookies are made.
- Bake cookies for 8-9 minutes on a dark tray and 10-11 minutes on a light tray. While cookies are baking, remove the wrappings from the Kiss candies.
- Immedietly after removing from the oven, press one Kiss candy into each cookie. Don't press too hard or the cookies will crumble. Some cracking of the cookie is expected and wanted. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on tray before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Notes
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
mia says
Awesome recipe for people looking for a peanut butter substitute!
Laura says
Thank you so much!! I'm so happy you love these cookies as much as we do. 🙂