Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soft and chewy gluten-free, eggless buckwheat cookies

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 15

Total Time: 30

Makes: 12 cookies

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Ingredients

1/4 cup butter at room temp (55 gms)
1/4 cup plain yogurt or curd, at room temp (55 gms)
2 tbsps honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup soft brown sugar, light or dark (55 gms)
1 cup buckwheat flour (120 gms; see notes)
1/4 cup rolled oats (25 gms; see notes)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt, if using salted butter
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 175 C and line a baking tray with a silicone mat or non-stick baking paper.
In a smaller bowl, beat the butter briefly with a whisk or spatula until smooth, then whisk in the yoghurt, honey and vanilla. Add the sugar and whisk well to combine. The mixture might appear slightly curdled, but don't worry.
Add the oats, then sift in the buckwheat flour baking soda, cinnamon and salt, if using. Fold it all together till you have a soft, slightly sticky dough. Some readers have reported finding the dough a little crumbly. If this happens, add a tablespoon of milk to bring it together.
Fold in the chocolate chips. This dough will not spread much so there is no need to chill it.
Use a cookie scoop or a spoon to make 10 to 12 equal portions of the dough and space them apart about 2 inches on the baking tray. Flatten them almost all the way as they won't spread as they bake. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. If they still remain puffy, use the back of a spoon to flatten further. While the cookies are hot, press a few more chocolate chips into the top of each one.
Allow the cookies to cool slightly, then place on a wire-rack to cool completely and firm up. They will have crisp edges while freshly baked, but once covered, these cookies will soften partly because oats are highly absorbent and buckwheat doesn't give the same texture as all-purpose flour. Store at room temperature for a week in an airtight box. Happy baking!

Notes

*Buckwheat flour is typically not used as a 1:1 swap for all-purpose but I liked it here and didn't find the cookies very fragile in the absence of gluten. While revisiting this recipe, I made some observations which I wanted to note here. Without meaning to, I bought dark buckwheat flour this time, which has more of the husk and has a much stronger, grassy smell which will be evident in the baked cookies too. If this is a concern, make sure you get a lighter variant. If you live in India, the light version I'd used was Sattvic (years ago though, I don't know if the flour is still the same) and the dark I used this time was Organic Tattva, just because it was the brand that was easily available to me. In terms of the dough texture, I didn't notice a difference based on what kind of buckwheat I used but the cookies do change colour depending on what you use. See photos below for the colour on the dark buckwheat cookies, which is something a few readers reported experiencing too.

*Originally, this recipe used 1/2 cup rolled oats. I've now reduced it to 1/4 cup which I think keeps it from being crumbly (a few readers experienced this, I myself haven't and usually have a soft, slightly sticky dough) but still gives a nice chewy bite. Rolled oats provide more texture, instant oats will make the dough a little dry because they're more of a flour consistency. If that's what you have on hand, add a tablespoon of milk if needed to bring the dough together.