Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies are a healthier whole grain cookie that has more flavor and better texture than regular chocolate chip cookies ~ why bake with plain white flour when you can get these results with whole grains?
Can a chocolate chip cookie really be healthy?
Using whole grains can definitely boost the nutritional value of a cookie, but in all honestly I didn’t make these because I was looking for a healthier cookie. If you follow this blog you probably know that I rarely if ever make something just because it’s healthy. I choose to make food that satisfies my hunger, my cravings or my curiosity. Often that turns out to be super healthy, other times, not so much. One thing that’s pretty consistent is that my taste buds usually come down on the side of whole foods.
Since I’ve been obsessed with buckwheat for a while now, I’m going to put it to the ultimate test: can it be baked into a tender, chewy irresistible chocolate chip cookie?
What is buckwheat flour?
- Buckwheat is not related to wheat, and it’s not a grain or a grass at all, it’s actually a plant related to rhubarb, and the flour is ground from the seeds, or ‘groats.’
- Buckwheat is gluten free.
How to use buckwheat flour
- Buckwheat flour is great for using in tandem with regular all purpose flour. Basically you’re safe to swap out about 1/4 of the regular flour in baked goods like cookies, muffins, scones, or biscuits, cakes and quick bread. The result will be a richer tasting, more tender treat.
Buckwheat is amazing. These cookies have a slight crunch on the outside, and a thick, moist, chewy interior. There is a little bit of an oatmeal cookie quality to them. In this case I think that whole grains really contribute to the deliciousness of this cookie. They give it a richness and that ‘x’ factor.
These cookies are a gourmet treat when you pair them with a cold glass of milk.
More chocolate chip cookies ~
- Soft Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
- The ‘Chipless’ Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
- Chewy Chocolate Chip Ginger Cookies
Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, just barely softened
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 cup buckwheat flour
- 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Set oven to 350F
- Beat the butter and sugars for several minutes until fluffy.
- Add in the vanilla and egg, beat well.
- Whisk the above dry ingredients together, then add to the wet ingredient.
- Mix well, and fold in the chocolate chips.
- Drop by medium sized scoops onto a silpat or parchment lied baking sheet.
- Bake for about 10 minutes. The cookies will appear slightly underdone. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack.
Cook's notes
Don’t forget to pin these delicious whole grain Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies!
45 Comments
Ralph Lombardo
June 5, 2021 at 3:05 pmThese chocolate chip cookies are excellent. Have never used buckwheat before. Texture is chewy and sweet, we used milk chocolate chips. Does leave a bit of grittiness in your mouth. They hold their shape and stay soft and chewy. Will definitely make again but will double the chips and add pecans. Might as well guild the lily.
Ruth Ingraham
September 27, 2020 at 8:13 amI substituted pecans for chocolate chips and baked a second time at 250 degrees for a deliciously crisp cookie. My adult family members loved these cookies.
Sue
September 27, 2020 at 8:31 amThe nuts with the buckwheat sounds like a perfect combo Ruth!
Peach
April 29, 2021 at 2:12 amCan I ask how long you baked them for at 250?
Kristie Kapusta
April 21, 2020 at 11:22 amI absolutely love this recipe and so does my whole family!
Leo Horishny
March 30, 2020 at 6:16 pmWow! Tried these cookies since I had buckwheat flour but didn’t know what to make with it other than pancakes. Best cookies, and best LOOKING cookies I’ve ever made, I am now interested in experimenting with the best type of chip to add to this dough, it’s very tasty and unique! And rich!
Sue
March 31, 2020 at 1:26 pmIsn’t buckwheat flour amazing? The flavor is so rich.
Kitt
March 2, 2020 at 10:51 amI love this basic recipe. Been using buckwheat for years.. my fave additions are toasted ground pecans (1/2 cup) coconut sugar, bit of flax meal, and a tsp of garam masala.
Kitt
March 2, 2020 at 10:55 amOoh and carob molasses and tahini!
Gail D West
January 9, 2020 at 5:11 pmYes, love these and have substituted the white sugar for monk fruit and used only 1/2 c brown sugar. Perfect! Gail
nicole
June 13, 2018 at 10:47 pmHi I made these today and substituted the sugar for a teaspoon of honey and maybe half a cup of date paste that I made and they turned out great! Thanks for a great recipe
Sara
December 6, 2017 at 5:15 pmI know this is an older recipe but I had the same idea as you—that buckwheat would work good in a CC cookie, and all I could find was gluten free/paleo/whatnot versions. Yours was perfect! I also love the smaller batch size. Thanks,
Sue
December 6, 2017 at 6:04 pmI have a fresh bag of buckwheat flour on the counter as I type this…you’ve inspired me to bake up a batch 🙂
sarah
December 2, 2017 at 6:10 pmOkay so this is a very random but amazing thing that happened: I forgot the butter by accident because I was so keen on making these into chocolate pumpkin buckwheat cookies. So I mixed in the pumpkin puree and realized it’s way too wet of a mixture, added a few tablespoons of cocoa powder to balance it out, scooped it up and put it in the oven. As they’re baking, I internally screamed as I realized that I completely forgot the butter, and except for the chocolate chips and the egg, there’s no fat to make it all yummy (hahahaha!). But they tasted FANTASTIC!!! Your recipe is so fool-proof that even without butter and the totally random addition of pumpkin and cocoa powder makes great cookies. Thank you! <3 🙂
Sue
December 2, 2017 at 7:04 pmNow you’ve got me craving this pumpkin version Sarah 🙂
Rose
October 22, 2017 at 3:56 pmHi, These cookies are terrific! I was trying to use up some buckwheat cereal so tossed it in the blender to make flour. Left it a bit coarse which gives the cookies a lovely crunch. Also substituted oat flour for the wheat and reduced brown sugar to 1/2 c. (not packed), plenty sweet. Mine spread out a bit but that made them crispy and i like that.
Sue
October 22, 2017 at 6:28 pmThanks for the great info Rose, I love to grind my own flours, I just got a vitamix and I’m going crazy with the dry container!
sarah
December 2, 2017 at 8:08 pmcan’t.stop.eating.them. but they’re buckwheat and pumpkin, I mean, c’mon there are worse things out there. 😉
Thanks again for this awesome recipe!
Sue
December 3, 2017 at 6:52 amThere’s something about that buckwheat flour, and I happen to have a bag on my kitchen counter right now…my cupboards are overflowing this time of year 😉
Sarah
June 7, 2018 at 9:37 pmHow much pumpkin puree did you use, Sarah? Thx!
Mary
April 13, 2016 at 9:32 pmFound these recipes by looking for buckwheat recipes in order to make some gluten free recipes and low glycemic cookies but with wheat flour and the sugar unfortunately I don’t think they will fit this criteria.
Sue
April 14, 2016 at 7:09 amI wonder if my nut butter based cookies would work for you, Mary, here’s a link: TVFGI Flourless Cookies
Melissa Lawrence
February 29, 2016 at 8:21 pmIf I want to ‘veganize’ the recipe, can I substitute chia seeds or flax for the egg? Thank you!
Sue
February 29, 2016 at 8:50 pmI don’t know, Melissa, sorry!
Cea Cea
December 30, 2017 at 6:18 pmAs a vegan who loooves food…. I can tell u…. ABSOLUTELY I hope u have figured that out by now but yes 1T chia + 3T water and let sit and voila u have your no-egg binder! U can do this with flax too but grind it up just before use (dedicated coffee grinder!) same measurements. Any baking that uses 2 or less eggs 4 binders u can easily sub w/o out issue….sometimes 3 eggs even….
Tereza
January 25, 2016 at 8:43 amHello Sue,
Thank you for these cookies recipe!
We are trying eat healthy and almost everything gluten free. My Husband loves buckwheat pancakes but I am struggling with the flavour.
I have changed the recipe a bit, because I did not have all ingredients, so I have used buckwheat and corn flour and only brown sugar and no baking soda and I add raisins and nuts instead of chocolate. I have to say they are absolutely great and our 2 year old son loves them too!
So thank you for inspiring me!
Tereza from England
Sue
January 25, 2016 at 9:06 amI’m happy to hear it Tereza, thanks for letting me know!
Emily
January 9, 2016 at 2:49 pmI love these cookies! I make them gluten free by substituting the wheat flour with half rice flour and half almond flour. They are my go-to cookie and everyone loves them! Thank you!
Sue
January 9, 2016 at 2:57 pmThis recipe doesn’t get much attention anymore, Emily, so I’m so glad you’ve commented — I love them too, buckwheat flour is amazing!
Guest
October 14, 2015 at 4:46 amIs the cornstarch optional, or in place of other ingredients?
Chloe
July 4, 2015 at 6:22 amThese look amazing! Could you pleaseee tell me the nutritional values of one of these?
Sue
July 4, 2015 at 7:10 amI’m so sorry I don’t have that info, Chloe. I’d love to find a way to provide that for all of my recipes!
Melissa Lawrence
February 29, 2016 at 8:17 pmMy fitness pal.com allows you to copy & paste a recipe link or manually type in the ingredients, and it gives you the calories per serving 🙂
Joy
January 24, 2013 at 3:45 pmI just made these but browned the butter first. I didn’t have a scoop so I just rolled them into ~1 tbsp size balls and baked them. Mine didn’t spread out at all though. Did you have to press yours into discs first or did they naturally spread out? Maybe it’s because I used browned butter….
Anonymous
January 16, 2013 at 10:59 pmWonderful, moist and easy to make. I subd the whole wheat with 3/4c of Sorghum “Sweet” flour. I also subd the corn starch with Xantham Gum of 1/2 tsp. Thanks so much for a wonderful cookie recipe.
Margaret Elliott
December 5, 2012 at 12:54 amgreat recipe!….i adapted the recipe to suite my husband’s wheat allergy by substituted the 3/4cup of whole wheat flour for coconut flour ….they turned out yummy!
Thyme (Sarah)
September 25, 2012 at 11:55 amYes, yes, yes! I love oatmeal cookies. I love chocolate chip cookies…and I love buckwheat. These could be the next care package option! Oh, I forgot…it’s for my daughter, not me. She would love them too.
Mary
September 23, 2012 at 2:45 pmI love this twist on the cookies, Sue. I definitely prefer whole grains in this type of cookie these days. Between this version and your espresso shortbread, there is definitely some baking in my future!
Mary
September 23, 2012 at 2:10 pmI have never cooked with buckwheat, so these cookies are a real temptation for me. I never would have thought of using it in cookies and I’m really curious as to what their taste and texture might be. Have a wonderful weekend. Blessings…Mary
Buttercup
September 23, 2012 at 1:48 amNever thought about buckwheat in cookies before, but these look delicious. Will be looking around your blog for inspiration.
Stephanie
September 22, 2012 at 9:10 pmThose look awesome Sue! I’ve never made buckwheat cookies before. They look like they have some really interesting texture. Love the height of them in the photos. Bookmarked!
Choclette
September 22, 2012 at 5:24 pmDo so agree. I used only wholemeal flour for most of my life and only stopped when I started my blog. Now I generally use half wholemeal or spelt and half white, although I do like experimenting with different flours and sometimes still use 100% wholemeal. Buckwheat is one of my favourites and I use it quite a lot. So, this is a very long winded way of saying, I think I’d be very happy with your cookies and I’ve bookmarked the recipe.
Averie @ Averie Cooks
September 22, 2012 at 4:40 pmfood that satisfies my hunger, my cravings or my curiosity = YES! So well said!
And sometimes it’s healthy and other times, not at all..and that’s okay! And great! 🙂
And these cookies – I would have never thought that buckwheat can produce a soft cookie and I would have feared them making cookies very tough and dry and just not the soft ‘n chewy cookie I really crave with CCCookies, but you have proven my thoughts wrong and love the oatmeal undertones you speak of!