seeded buckwheat cookies. homemade not-too-sweets.

I have some lovely gluten-free friends. Though I am on a strict gluten-lots diets (wink), I love experimenting for my wheatless companions. There are so many beautiful grains with completely different flavors, textures, and baking effects. Wheat gets a lot of the spotlight, and its gluten power is quite incredible for making light, chewy loaves of bread with epic crust. But what about emmer? And buckwheat? And kamut and oats and brown rice and einkorn and barley and rye and spelt and millet and sorghum and teff and amaranth and quinoa? Many of these so-called "ancient grains" are extremely nutritious and very different



Here we spotlight buckwheat, one of my favorite gluten-free grains that has an incredible blue-grey color and an earthy, nutty flavor. Apparently, buckwheat is not a true grain (Poaceae family), and instead a pseudo-grain more closely related to rhubarb and sorrel (Polygonaceae family). The whole seeds are triangular in shape, like little grain pyramids. Buckwheat is high in protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals including B vitamins, folic acid, iron, selenium, magnesium, zinc, and manganese. The plant (see photo, right) has whimsical heart-shaped leaves and white flower heads.

So how do we effectively use buckwheat flour for baking? Buckwheat shines in recipes without yeast, including cakes, crepes, crackers, cookies, and pancakes. It blends well with a little bit of wheat flour (if you roll that way), or other gluten-free flours. 

I like using buckwheat in these cookies because of the nuttiness, which goes along so well with the additional nuts and seeds in the recipe. These are somewhat like shortbread, with a nice buttery finish, but much more dense and wholesome. Once out of the oven, the cookies are crumbly, but once cooled they are crunchy on the outside and barely soft on the inside.  

These cookies are not a sugary treat, and are quite hearty and full of nutrition while being oddly addictive. You can make them truly gluten free by using oat flour instead of wheat flour, though they are a bit more crumbly (still delicious!). You can switch up the seed mixture as well, using what you have. Sunflower seeds, almonds, or walnuts are great ground up in the dough, and poppy or chia seeds are fun to throw in whole for some crunch. I've made both versions, and they are equally tasty. Use whatever you have on hand and experiment! 

Gluten free version with oat flour rolled in poppy seeds

Seeded Buckwheat Cookies

Whole wheat flour version rolled in flax seeds

Makes 24-30 cookies

Ingredients: 

1 cup pecans (or sunflower seeds), toasted
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (or oat flour for GF)
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup sucanat (or other unrefined sugar)
3/4 tsp sea salt
2 sticks butter, cold
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract 

optional additions:

1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tbsp chia seeds


Method:

Toast the nuts in a pan until golden and fragrant. Pulse in a spice grinder or food processor until finely ground. 

Mix together the ground nuts, flours, baking powder, sucanat, and salt. 

Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the dry mixture. If using a food processor, pulse until the mixture a few times until it resembles coarse meal, with some small pea-sized butter chunks. If mixing by hand, use fingers or a pastry cutter to cut the cold butter into the flour. 

Add any seeds you might be using to the dough and mix until combined. 

In a small bowl, beat the egg and add the vanilla extract. Add to the dough and mix until incorporated, forming a firm ball. 

On a sheet of parchment paper, roll the dough into a 1-2" log, depending on how big you want the cookies. You can roll the log over 2 tbsp seeds (of any kind)for a nice outer coating on the cookies. 

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

Wrap dough in parchment paper and chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator. You could also store them here for a few days until ready to bake. 

Take dough out and cut 1/2" slices into the log. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden on the edges and underside. Let cool on a wire rack.