My first recollection of buckwheat flour was once I was a baby within the 70s. It was a decade the place buckwheat flour was making a comeback as a consequence of its compelling nutrient profile. I recollect it as a ‘hippy’ grain and a bit different. I heard about buckwheat pancakes sometimes, however we had been a stable Bisquick household. Buckwheat wasn’t one thing that made its method into our home. Now I like it – and buckwheat flour really will get the prospect to shine in these orange-scented buckwheat chocolate chip cookies.
Buckwheat flour has appeared in an rising variety of baking recipes currently, from muffins to desserts to cookies. It provides a deep, earthy flavour profile, and a barely sandy texture to baked items, making it way more fascinating than one-dimensional white flour. And it occurs to be gluten free.
What Is Buckwheat?
Buckwheat is an historic grain that was utilized in colonial occasions, and was standard in America from the late 1800s. Like different hearty, nutrient-dense crops reminiscent of dandelions, buckwheat can thrive and even unfold shortly in poor soil situations.
Health Benefits of Buckwheat
Buckwheat is taken into account a pseudo-cereal, and is a part of the Polygonaceae household. Its well being advantages embody:
- The plant-based protein in buckwheat is of excellent high quality, and is wealthy within the amino acid lysine. Lysine may also help to forestall chilly sores, help with calcium absorption, cut back anxiousness ranges and help with wound therapeutic.
- Research has proven rutin and quercetin, compounds present in buckwheat, are anti-inflammatory
- Buckwheat’s polyphenols could be neuroprotective, and it possesses anti-cancer and anti-diabetic properties.
- It can also be wealthy in high-quality carbohydrates, protein, amino and fatty acids, and is loaded with B nutritional vitamins for vitality, vitamin Ok for bone well being, and choline for the mind.
More Ways to Use Buckwheat
I’ve used buckwheat flour within the following cookie recipe. The flour can also be fantastic in pancakes, bread and it’s used to make noodles (soba). Whole buckwheat is definitely loved in:
- Salads
- Rice dishes or pilafs (cooked buckwheat could be subbed for just about any of your favorite grain dishes)
- Soups and stews
- Porridge
- Burgers
- Granola (use as a substitute of oats, or use half oats/half buckwheat)
Creating the Ultimate Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
I hadn’t paid a lot consideration to buckwheat flour till currently, when it captured my consideration in a cookie on the Volunteer Park Café in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. This despatched me on a mission to try to duplicate their scrumptious buckwheat flour chocolate chip cookie. Its buttery flavour and darkish chocolate flecks, with a little bit of heft to it, appeared like the right cookie.
In my recipe experimentation, I veered astray from my goal, however with good leads to their very own method. I discovered that the orange flavour naturally complimented buckwheat and darkish chocolate, so I wished to make certain and embody it.
This is the right cookie for a fall or winter day with a cup of your favorite heat drink. And, with the entire buckwheat well being advantages, and no refined sugar or gluten, it’s a deal with that may make you’re feeling good, too!
- 1 cup mild buckwheat flour
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ½ tsp tremendous sea salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1/3 cup ghee, butter or coconut oil, softened
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1 cup darkish chocolate chips, or your favorite darkish chocolate bar, chopped
- 1 tsp orange zest
- In a medium bowl, combine collectively buckwheat flour, almond flour, baking soda and salt.
- In a mixer bowl, beat ghee, butter or coconut oil with coconut sugar on excessive for about 4 minutes. Add vanilla and egg. Stir in dry components till simply mixed. Fold in chocolate chips and orange zest.
- Chill dough for a couple of hours, and even higher, in a single day. This permits the buckwheat to mellow. You can even bake these instantly and they’ll nonetheless be good!
- Preheat oven to 350 levels. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop 1-inch dough balls onto sheet. Flatten a bit, if desired.
- Bake for 12-13 minutes. Cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet, then switch to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Notes
These cookies are finest when the dough can relaxation a couple of hours, ideally in a single day, to permit the grains to melt.
- Prep Time: quarter-hour
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
Keywords: cookies, gluten-free cookies, buckwheat flour, buckwheat cookies, buckwheat chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cookies
About The Author: Ericka Thielke
Ericka is a graduate of the 2021 Culinary Nutrition Expert Program, and owns Fittersweet Cookie Dough, a nutrient-dense cookie dough that options premium darkish chocolate. She can also be an authorized chocolatier and loves combining her new information of culinary diet with chocolate. She spends her free time discovering methods to include chocolate right into a wholesome life.
Ericka teaches piano in Seattle, and lives together with her husband, Stephen, and two daughters who’re in faculty.
Learn More: www.fittersweet.com