I’ve been trying to develop a Paleo quick bread recipe using Sunbutter instead of flour and oil with some . . . well, let’s just say “interesting” results. I finally had a break-through last week after finding a recipe on Elana’s Pantry for a Paleo breakfast bread that uses almond butter in place of the traditional flour and oil (warning: almonds are very high oxalate!). A few simple adjustments in baking time and temperature and “wow” — my Sunbutter recipe worked!
Sunflower Spice Paleo Quickbread - A low oxalate bread perfect for breakfast or tea time (Sorry for the bad photo - I'll replace it as soon as I make another yummy batch!)
So, here it is: a grain-free, nut-free, low oxalate Paleo quick bread that’s perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea! I like it best served warm with butter and a cup of tea, but Cameron loves it cold, too, with a frosty Banana Blueberry Dairy-Free Milkshake. Yum!
Sunflower Spice Paleo Quick Bread
1/2 cup Sunbutter
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey (or 2 T honey, plus a half dropper liquid Stevia)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 – 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional, see warning)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of Celtic sea salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the Sunbutter in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer until the Sunbutter is really creamy. Add the eggs, honey, vanilla and mix a little more. Add the baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cardamom and cinnamon and mix until thoroughly blended (see note). Put in a greased 8 x 8 ceramic or Pyrex baking dish and bake at 325 degrees for about 14 minutes.
Makes 12 small squares.
Note: It’s hard to get the baking soda to mix evenly in this recipe since you don’t have a flour to mix your baking soda into before adding the wet ingredients. It works best for me to mix the baking soda with the spices and salt, then slowly sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients with a little mixing in between.
Warning: (added on 4/19/2012) As one of my readers pointed out in the comments below, I forgot to warn you that the chlorogenic acid in sunflower seeds reacts with baking soda and turns green as your bread cools. Yes, that’s right. If you do not eat all of this bread within about three hours you too will have green bread, especially if you looked at my recipe and thought “No way is 1/4 teaspoon baking soda going to be enough” and put in 1/2 teaspoon instead. Might be fun on St. Patrick’s Day! Anyway, there are two ways to keep your bread from turning green. You may reduce the baking soda to about 1/8 teaspoon, but it won’t rise very well. You may also add about a 1/2 – 1 tablespoon lemon juice, which isn’t bad.
Low Oxalate Info: Sunbutter (6.1 mg. oxalate per 2 tablespoon), nutmeg (9.4 mg. per teaspoon) and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (9.5 mg. per 1/4 teaspoon) are medium oxalate ingredients. All other ingredients are very low oxalate. Sunflower Spice Paleo Quick Bread has about 4.6 mg. oxalate per serving when made without the cinnamon or 5.5 mg. oxalate per serving when made with the cinnamon.
Other Diets: May also be appropriate for GFCF, gluten-free, Paleo, low carb and grain-free diets.
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