I was walking through Union Square this morning. It had just rained, and I smelled…buckwheat. I know it sounds a little weird, but that mineral-y smell of wet concrete somehow triggered a sense memory of the smell and taste of buckwheat flour. Prior to today, my buckwheat cookery had been limited to buckwheat pancakes and buckwheat crêpes, and maybe the occasional buckwheat noodle, but I had a bit of culinary inspiration: what would my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe taste like with the addition of buckwheat flour? As it happened, I had a bag of stone-ground buckwheat flour (procured in North Carolina) in my freezer, waiting for a kitchen experiment like this one. Not surprisingly, these cookies taste like buckwheat – so if you’re a buckwheat fan, I think you’ll like. Next time I make them I’ll consider omitting the chocolate chips and adding pecans instead. The original chocolate chip cookie recipe is adapted from the Gourmet cookbook.

Ingredients
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup stone-ground buckwheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpats.
2. Combine the butter, brown sugar, salt, and baking soda in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a hand mixer). Beat the butter and sugar mixture on medium speed until fluffy (about 3 minutes), scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary.
3. Add the egg and the vanilla and beat on low until just combined.
4. Add the buckwheat and the all-purpose flour and beat on low until the flours are incorporated.
5. Fold in the chocolate chips. Try not to eat all of the dough.
6. Drop by rounded spoonfuls (I used a #40 ice cream scoop so the cookies would be relatively the same size) onto the prepared cookie sheets, and flatten slightly with your fingers.
7. Bake for 13-15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through cooking. (It is a little difficult to determine when these cookies are done because the dough is so dark. You’ll notice that the cookies will loose a bit of their sheen and will no longer be tacky to the touch.)
8. Cool on the cookie sheets for 1 minute, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 12 large cookies, if you can control yourself with the dough (I couldn’t).