Chocolate

Salted Chocolate Buckwheat Cookie

by:
May 28, 2021
4
51 Ratings
Photo by Rocky Luten
  • Makes 12 cookies
Author Notes

From Bien Cuit bakery's pastry chef and owner Zachary Golper: “We decided to use buckwheat for this cookie because of its unique, beautiful, flavor; tender and crumbly texture; and the fact that it makes gluten-free people happy." —Food52

Test Kitchen Notes

Featured in: Our New Favorite Chocolate Cookies Just Happen to Be Gluten-Free —The Editors

What You'll Need
Watch This Recipe
Salted Chocolate Buckwheat Cookie
Ingredients
  • 2 cups buckwheat flour, plus more for surface
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups (lightly packed) light brown sugar
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
  • 1 teaspoon strong espresso or strong coffee, room temperature
  • Powdered sugar (for sprinkling)
  • Sea salt (preferably Maldon; for sprinkling)
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat brown sugar and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Gradually add dry ingredients and beat on medium-low until no dry spots remain. Add chocolate chips and espresso and beat on low speed until just blended.
  3. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Shape into a log about 2" in diameter and 10" long. If possible, chill the dough for at least 1 hour before cutting for optimal results.
  4. After chilling, remove the dough. Cut crosswise into 12 even pieces (they will be large). Place cookies on prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with powdered sugar and a little bit of salt. Bake, rotating once halfway through, until cookies are cracked, slightly puffed, and baked through (they will still be slightly soft and firm up as they cool), 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool slightly on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack; cool completely.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • 16bitclaudes
    16bitclaudes
  • Ann Lacy
    Ann Lacy
  • Eleanor Krynycky
    Eleanor Krynycky
  • Cindy Habighorst
    Cindy Habighorst

101 Reviews

Jess October 9, 2023
The salted chocolate buckwheat cookies are absolutely out of this world with flavor!! My family's new favorite!
 
Jess October 9, 2023
Made these cookies as the recipe is written no changes and they are soft chewy and crumbly all at the same time the add sea salt is an amazing touch to compliment the sugar and chocolate not too sweet or to tangy... love love love them
 
Jtillmann02 June 26, 2023
I can't believe how suprizingly good these are!
 
Jtillmann02 June 26, 2023
suprisingly
 
16bitclaudes May 22, 2023
I swapped the butter for a plant based one to make these vegan and followed the rest of the recipe as directed. Everything still looked pretty textbook up until the point that they went into the oven - I baked these for the minimum 12 minutes flipping halfway through and the spread on them was fairly significant! Still had a little mound in the middle but thinner/ flatter edges.

They still look decent, they smell and taste great. I imagine these are even better with browned butter, so overall I'd make these again but possibly chill again after cutting and check them after 10 minutes.
 
16bitclaudes October 16, 2023
Made these again and have been cursing myself for not noting the metric equivalents! Here they are:

250g buckwheat flour
40g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
300g light brown sugar
225g unsalted butter
200g chocolate chips
1 tsp strong espresso or strong coffee
 
Laurelswreath10 April 4, 2023
Made these for guests that were staying at our Inn (Red Brick Inn, Swansboro NC) that we’re gluten free.
They were a HIT. They are the perfect combination of sweet and salty, chewy and crumbly. Second batch I added zest of two oranges to the sugar to give a citrus flare and topped with some candied orange peel. They were DELICIOUS! Great recipe
 
butterscotch September 15, 2022
I've never made a chocolate cookie that I liked as much as this one. It's really a terrific recipe. My husband, who claims not to like chocolate, gobbled up the first batch, pronounced the cookies "addictive" and demanded a second batch. I made these changes, all of which I will continue to make: 1) I replaced half the buckwheat flour with AP flour; 2) added one large egg to the dough; 3) replaced the chocolate chips with 3/4 cup chopped dark chocolate (70 % cacao). I shaped the dough into 3 logs, cut each log into 8 thick slices, and baked for 14 minutes, rotating the pan after 7 minutes. The 14-minute baking time yields tender, cakey cookies that are just moist enough. I found the key to avoiding dryness was to bake the cookies immediately after slicing while the dough is still cold. Allowing the dough to warm and soften before baking (even for just 10-15 minutes) causes it to spread during baking, and the cookies turn out thin, crunchy, and too dry.
 
anne M. September 15, 2022
I think the point of these cookies is the buckwheat flour, so by swapping that out with AP flour, I don't think reviewing the recipe provides too much benefit. I would be curious to know what you think if you try the recipe as written.
 
butterscotch September 15, 2022
Anne, I only swapped half the buckwheat flour for AP, and I did that because I was concerned about an overwhelming flavor of buckwheat with the full amount. I can say that, even with half the amount of buckwheat flour, there was a distinct buckwheat flavor which we enjoyed. If someone is looking for either a gluten-free treat or a completely "whole grain" cookie, they would not want to make the swap that I made, but anybody else might enjoy trying it with a reduced amount of buckwheat flour.
 
mimulus April 3, 2022
I made a lot of alterations: Miyoko's vegan "butter" and subbed out half the brown sugar for Lakanto golden monkfruit-erythritol sugar. So 3/4 cup real sugar and 3/4 cup sugar substitute. I also used 1/2 cup cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips. The dough came together easily and tasted fantastic! I chilled the dough for eight hours and made the suggested 12 cookies (just as shown in the video). They were definitely not done at 12 minute mark, had barely spread. So I gave them 6 more minutes, checking after 3 minute increments. They tasted pretty good initially. Definitely a sandy texture. I put the cookies in tupperware with some apple slices and the next day they were moister and less gritty. I would make these again...as I am vegan, my partner is gluten free and we both trying to avoid too much added sugar.
 
Anna468 January 8, 2022
I made these the other day and they are delicious!! I read some of the reviews about it being dry. Here is my take. For my oven it took more than 15 minutes to make. It took about 25 minutes. When they came out they were firm but soft enough. I tasted on and it still being warm, yes it tasted dry initially. I let them sit then stored them in a tupperware container. That night I had another and it was PERFECT. Soft enough on the inside and when I bit into it, it did not have a dry taste. I also stuck the dough for an hour in the refrigerator. When it came out it was too hard to roll so I warmed it up with my hands and it worked out as I was rolling it.
Give this recipe another chance if it did not work out for you the first time around.
 
Stephanie January 8, 2022
Still my favourite cookie of all time! Great feedback 👌
 
Cindy October 10, 2021
I’ve been making these twice monthly. Took a small learning curve to get them right but these are our favorite cookie.

Use mini chips for ease of slicing and less obvious chunk of chocolate.
Weigh ingredients for consistency
-296 gm buckwheat flour (Bobs red Mill preferred)
-35 g cocoa powder
-280 gm brown sugar
-227gm butter

I use whatever coffee I’ve brewed that day for the liquid.

Let your dough rest and flour hydrate. Makes all the difference.

I slice into 22 -24 cookies.
7 mins in oven, rotate, 7 minutes more. Let them firm up before eating.
The best!
 
Stephanie October 10, 2021
It makes me so happy to read a favourable review on these cookies. These are our absolute favourite! I still sometimes use larger chunks of chocolate. They do make them harder to cut but so worth it :)
 
Stephanie P. February 27, 2021
I’m so sad I wasted so much butter on these awful, awful cookies. I’ve truly never made such a terrible cookie, from the texture to the taste. I followed the recipe exactly so I have no idea what the problem was. I could have saved myself some trouble if I’d read all the comments first. Major fail.
 
Eleanor K. April 26, 2021
Qualit and freshness helps immensely when using buckwheat flour, but it does have a strong flavour.
 
Davis December 2, 2020
These cookies are fairly difficult to get right: which I wouldn't really know if I had not made then correctly AND incorrectly several times to see what works and what makes a weirdly big difference. My son and I joke that it requires a certain number of course words in order to manifest good results just like pie crust. Here is what I have found:

1) The dough is dry. Very dry and very crumbly. Even at high altitude, where you would be tempted to add extra moisture, I have found this to be a mistake. Keep it crumbly, wrap it up in parchment, and curse when it crumbles when you cut it. Otherwise they will spread too much, especially at the edges, and that was not what I wanted.

2) I also have too much dough with this recipe to make a 2 x 10 inch log. I used to keep it 2 inch wide and have a long tube. This was also a mistake. They cook more evenly, (but are more annoying to cut) if you make a 4 x 10 inch log and have flatter, wider cookies.

3) Cooking time should be short: just when they start to spread a teeny bit (usually 11 minutes), take them out. They aren't "done" per we, but leave them on the pan and they will become more firm in about 5 minutes. Also, turn them halfway through. This isn't really because your oven is uneven, but because you let a lot of the heat out (as far as I can tell) and the second half of cooking is lower, keeping them from spreading too much.

4) They are made out of buckwheat. You might not like them, but especially if your flour is old.

In short, when in doubt, do the most annoying thing you can put up with, (ex: crumbly dough, meticulous watching while baking, etc.) and they come out better. The people who measure their ingredients by weight are also probably right: that probably helps a lot too.
 
Stephanie October 15, 2020
I still maintain these are the best cookies ever!!!!
 
Ann L. October 15, 2020
I was hesitant to make these after reading mixed reviews but my BF and I really enjoyed them! I made these exactly as written, aside from the powdered sugar. I made the dough at night, chilled overnight in the fridge, and baked the following afternoon. The dough seemed way too dry but it all came together in the end. Would definitely make again!
 
Andrea August 5, 2020
Made these with a few revisions:
1) I halved the recipe but still shaped them into 12 cookies. I still baked for 10-12 min.
2) Added a little extra brown sugar plus an egg
3) Softened butter in the microwave so it was a little more liquidy
4) Poured the flour into my measuring cups instead of scooping it

Taste was delicious and the egg held the dough together so it wasn't too crumbly. Texture had a tiny bit of grainyness to it but not something I'd consider to be a negative at all. This was my first time baking with buckwheat and I didn't think it tasted "buckwheaty" at all.
 
Peaches June 15, 2020
I made these and enjoyed them a great deal. I agree that using mini chips would make them easier to cut into individual cookies. The dough isn't a conventional one, and not the easiest to work with. Baked they have more like a sandy shortbread texture, which isn't bad just unusual. So eat over a plate, or better yet outside!
 
Emily R. April 24, 2020
These chonky cookies were delicious! Things I think contributed to success making these:

- I used a bag of buckwheat flour that I purchased on a trip to France (David Lebovitz talks a bit in this post about American buckwheat flour, which is usually whole grain, versus French buckwheat flour, which tends to be more refined: https://www.davidlebovitz.com/buckwheat-chocolate-chip-cookies-cookie-recipe-lappart-david-lebovitz/)

- I used these weights from Amy W's comment below instead of volume measurements for the dry ingredients:
200g brown sugar
30g cocoa
265g buckwheat flour*
13g baking powder

- I let the dough sit in the fridge overnight, so that the flour hydrated properly

If I were to make these again, I would make sure that the top got a nice, even sprinkling of salt, because I thought the saltier bites were especially delicious.
 
MarthaInTheKitchen February 22, 2020
These are delicious, and similar to Dorie Greenspan's also-delicious World Peace Cookies. The dough came together beautifully for me. I gave it a few gentle hand-kneads - the warmth from my hands was just enough to smooth out the dough and to get it to stick together.

I looked for photos of the Bien Cuit version of these cookies - they are more nugget-shaped than the ones in the photo for this recipe. To get more of that effect, I stuck the shaped cookies into the freezer for a few minutes to avoid spread once they were in the oven.

These cookies would probably be equally lovely without the chocolate chips. That would make them easier to cut from the log. Or, consider using mini chocolate chips.

I wanted smaller cookies, and shaped them into pieces that were about 1-inch round x .5-inch high. My testers had a burned edge, so I reduced the temperature and baking time slightly.

Buckwheat does have a noticeable flavor. If that is not your thing, this recipe is probably not for you. Dorie has you covered with the abovementioned World Peace Cookies - hop on over to that recipe, where buckwheat-free bliss awaits.
 
Susan B. June 25, 2019
I was suspect of a couple things, mostly the size of these cookies! A 1/2 pound of butter in 12 cookies is outrageous. There are some good bones here, but the butter needs to be cut and the dough needs a binder. If I make them again I will add 2 eggs and cut the butter in half. That should create a texture perfect for drop cookies - no rolling or waiting necessary!
 
Donna May 26, 2019
I reviewed this recipe as a definite thumbs down. I read through many of the reviews stating “disappointing results, awful, looks nothing like the photo, grainy texture, bitter, waste, etc”. Based on the reviews how does this recipe wind up with 4 stars??
 
Donna May 26, 2019
Is there anything worse than high expectations dashed?! I made 2 batches of dough as I planned to serve at a Memorial Day Bbq. I would be embarrassed to take these because my friends might feel they should eat them to be courteous. Could it be that an ingredient was left out of the recipe....one could only hope.
 
Stephanie March 3, 2019
I made these cookies to the recipe and thought they were the best ever!!!!! My husband's and mine very favorite cookie
 
Cindy H. June 1, 2019
I agree!!!!!
 
Stephanie June 5, 2019
I know! Maybe people are not used to using buckwheat flour. Anyhow so glad you agree :)