Sunflower Butter Chocolate Cups with Vegan White Chocolate Centre

As many of you know, as of this year (which is almost over) I have been doing a lot of research into hormone health. So much of the information I am discovering I am applying to my own past struggles with my hormones. I have discovered that adrenal health is at the basis of female hormone health and in my case was actually the driving factor behind my stubbornly low progesterone and probably contributed to my low estrogen as well. As such I have been finding out nutrients that are beneficial for our adrenals and vitamin B5 is one of the main ones that come up. Your adrenal glands use CoA (made partly from vitamin B5) along with cholesterol and vitamin C to manufacture cortisol and epinephrine/adrenalin. This helps to reduce stress and anxiety. There are also studies that I have read in rats that suggest vitamin b5 helps with adequate secretion and sensitivity of both cortisol (stress hormone) and progesterone. Since cortisol and progesterone are so closely linked its no wonder that the health of one affects the other. But this is not a health article (thankfully otherwise I would need to link the studies at the end and I hate doing that because it feels like I’m referencing an assignment for university). This is a recipe, and the main reason I bring up vitamin b5 is that sunflower seeds have a lot of it! I’ve also realized that I don’t eat very many sunflower seeds and so I have been making an effort to find creative ways to introduce them into my diet. Nut butter has been such an easy way for me to consume more nuts (often in a more delicious way) so I see no reason as to why seed butter cant be used in the same way.

Before recently the only way I used to eat sunflower seeds was Romanian style: where you crack the salted shell with your teeth and remove the seeds. It’s quite common to see people sitting down with huge bags of salted sunflower seeds and crack them open while socializing for hours. Kind of like eating a big bag of chips, but slower and with lots more mess from all the leftover shells. We do this with sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. I like both but have always preferred pumpkin seeds whereas my husband prefers sunflower seeds. To be honest, I’m not too sure what I think of sun butter yet, mostly because I find that it has a slightly bitter aftertaste. My husband really enjoys the taste and has loved every sunflower seed recipe I have ever made. As for me, I am determined to make it grow on me because I want my adrenals to be happy.

This recipe is fairly easy to make especially since it does not involve any machinery. All you need is a couple of saucepans over the stove and a good whisk. I also love that since the cups are fairly small the first layer freezes quite quickly in the freezer and is ready to go by the time your second layer is made up. There is nothing worse than having to wait too long for something to set! it can make the simplest of recipes seem complicated. I will suggest however that the smaller the cups you can make the better as these cups are very rich and so can be quite difficult to get through, so make them bite-sized!

The other thing I wanted to mention in this post is my recent discovery of coconut milk powder. I’m so happy I have found it because it acts just like milk powder (I assume, I have never actually used milk powder before) and does not have a coconut taste. As a result, I think it creates a truly authentic white chocolate taste but without the dairy or refined sugar. It took me quite a while to locate it but if you can find it, please get it because it is worth it! I have noticed that my favourite vegan white chocolate also uses coconut milk powder and you can not taste it at all.

I will let the recipe and photos do the rest of the talking. These cups are vegan, dairy-free, refined sugar-free and gluten-free. Enjoy.