Browned Butter Buckwheat & Chocolate Chip Cookies
Nutty browned butter melds with bold buckwheat, and bittersweet dark chocolate - with sea salt on top!
Ingredients
- 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter, room temperatures
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (110g) light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup plus 3 TB (100g) buckwheat flour I use Bobs Red Mill brand
- 1/4 cup plus 2 TB (45g) tapioca flour also called tapioca starch
- 1 pinch each cinnamon and cardamom optional - but great!
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/4 cup (6oz or 170g) dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate chunks from your favorite dark chocolate bar
- 1 heaped cup toasted walnuts or pecans optional, but quite tasty
- Flakey sea salt, for topping Optional - I like Maldon
Instructions
- Brown the butter by melting the butter in a small-medium sauce pan. Heat over medium heat, swirling and scraping the bottom of the pan with a rubber spatula to keep the butter solids from scorching. Cook the butter until it is golden and smells nutty. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool until room temperature. You may optionally sieve or strain the butter solids out of the butter if they have browned too much.
- Sift buckwheat flour, sea salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl (large enough to hold the entire batter once mixed). Set aside.
- Once the browned butter is cool, add in the sugars, mixing in the pan the butter was browned in. Add in the egg and beat very well until combined.
- Add the butter-egg-sugar mixture to the dry ingredients, and mix just briefly. Add in the chocolate and toasted nuts (if using), and mix to combine everything until no patches of flour are seen.
- Cover the bowl, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour until firm.
- To bake, pre-heat oven to 350F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silpat. Take 1 heaping tablespoons of batter and roll them into balls (or scoop using a cookie scoop). Place 2 to 3 inches apart, as the cookies do spread a bit.
- Top each cookie with a sprinkle of sea salt. Bake for 10-13 minutes, until the edges are set and middles are still a bit soft but slightly collapsed. The cookie will be nicely browned on the bottoms, and slight browning on their tops.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool until just warm - the cookies are fragile when hot.
Notes
You may also refrigerate or freeze the cookie dough balls, wrapped well or placed in a airtight container or bag. Refrigerated, these will last for up to a week. Frozen, they will last for a few months. Simply place on baking sheets as directed, top with sea salt, and bake as directed, adding a few minutes more as needed. I actually prefer these cookies baked straight from the freezer so their middles stay a bit soft.
Cookies once baked are best eaten within a few days, but are tasty for up a week in an airtight container.