Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix the granulated sugar, brown sugar, sun butter, and softened butter by hand. Then add the egg and continue to mix by hand. A hand mixer or stand mixer will work here as well.  Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cream of tartar until the dough forms and continue to mix until the batter is smooth, and all ingredients are well incorporated.

Baker’s tip: 1 full stick of butter equals 1/2 cup, or 8 tablespoons. I prefer salted butter in all my cookie recipes.

Food Science: The chlorophyll in the sunflower seeds will react with the baking soda and baking powder creating a green cookie after a few hours. I was able to reverse this chemical reaction by using an acid, cream of tartar. The cream of tartar also created a nice texture in this cookie. Recipe success!

Shape the cookie dough into 1-inch balls. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, place cookies 2 inches apart.

You can make a tiny imprint with your thumb in the center of the cookie prior to baking, if you don’t want them to have the quintessential crackling look as seen in this photo or just bake as is and then press in the candy. Another option is to press the cookie dough into a tiny muffin tin and make the imprint before or after baking.

Bake for 10-11 minutes or until edges are light golden brown.  Gently press 1 sun butter cup into the center of each cookie. Let them sit on cookie tray (or in muffin tin) for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Alternatively, you can roll the cookie dough ball in granulated sugar and press in a candy kiss after baking, then these are Sun Butter Blossom Cookies, equally delicious!

These can be stored on your counter in an air-tight container for 2 days. After day 3, the cookie will turn a little green from the sun butter cup. They won’t last that long anyway.