Dark buckwheat flour adds big flavor to these thick, chewy buckwheat cookies loaded with dark chocolate. The batter takes 10 minutes to stir together using melted butter, brown sugar, and all-purpose and whole wheat flours. Or make them gluten-free using sweet rice and tapioca flours instead – see the notes in the recipe card below.
After a 10-minute bake, the cookies bake up with shiny, crinkled tops, crispy edges, and gooey middles. You won't ever want to go back to standard chocolate chip cookies after tasting these mega-flavorful buckwheat cookies.
If you crave the rich flavor of roasty, earthy buckwheat flour but baked into a soft, chewy chocolate chip cookie, allow me to introduce these buckwheat flour chocolate chippers. Like my reader-favorite oat flour chocolate chip cookies, these bake up thick and soft with golden edges and molten middles.
All About Buckwheat
Like most things, 'buckwheat' sounds much better in French, where it's known as 'blé noir.' This translates to 'black grain,' which sounds less poetic than 'blé noir' as well, though possibly less misleading than 'buckwheat,' since it isn't actually in the wheat family at all, but rather the gluten-free seed of a plant native to Asia.
Oddly, triangular buckwheat groats themselves aren't black at all, but rather a pretty ecru with hints of pastel green. But when roasted and ground into dark buckwheat flour, the flour becomes a charcoal-flecked brownish-grey. Arrowhead Mills and Bob's Red Mill are two widely available brands of dark buckwheat flour. If light buckwheat flour is what you've got, you can still make these; you'll just have a more classic chocolate chip cookie that will still be delicious.
Baking with buckwheat flour
Despite my love of buckwheat crepes and soba noodles, I never would have thought to bake flavorful dark buckwheat flour into sweet confections until Heidi at 101 Cookbooks posted some nibby buckwheat butter cookies, a recipe from Alice Medrich's stunner of a book Pure Dessert.
I made the cookies right away and was knocked off my feet by how well the flavors and textures went together: the gluten-free buckwheat created a meltingly delicate cookie dotted with crunchy, bittersweet nibs. I couldn't stop eating them. (I've also shared a buckwheat snowball cookie recipe with similar flavors!)
Buckwheat's unique flavor reminds me of toasted hazelnuts and cinnamon tempered by an oat-like softness. Since all of those flavors go so well with chocolate, I decided to try baking buckwheat flour into my favorite cookie of all, the illustrious chocolate chip.
Appropriately, I based my recipe on Alice Medrich's classic chocolate chip cookies from her new cookie book. I love that this recipe uses melted butter, so the dough comes together in a snap. I made a few different batches, tinkering with the amount of buckwheat flour I subbed in for the all-purpose (I added some whole spelt, too), and taking the sugar down a notch.
Alice says to let the dough rest for 1 hour and up to overnight, but the cookies turn out fine even when baked right away. She also recommends baking the cookies on unlined baking sheets, which did make for slightly thicker cookies, as the edges of the dough stick, preventing the cookies from spreading more. But when I went to scrape the sticky cookies off the sheet pan, I decided this was a deal breaker, and I had perfectly delectable results using parchment paper.
Mix-Ins
Chocolate Chunks or Chips
It's been a long time since I put actual chocolate chips in my cookies; it seems that, for now, higher quality chocolate comes in bars (or if you're lucky, wafers in the bulk section of your awesome co-op). Chopping your own chocolate gets you large chunks mixed with smaller shards, which lend a rustic look. Hold back a few, and stick them on top of the unbaked dough balls if you like; then everyone will know what's hiding inside.
Optional nuts & nibs
I used to be a purist when it came to chocolate chip cookies, but now, thanks to Jay peering over my shoulder and asking, 'Are you gonna put nuts in those?' so many times, I've come to appreciate the chunkier texture and hint of toasty bitterness they lend, especially against the flavor of the buckwheat. Following Alice's lead, I threw in some cacao nibs, as well, for added bite.
Like any chocolate chip cookie, these are at their peak when just firm enough to lift one off the baking sheet, when the edges are crisp, the centers gooey-soft, and the chocolate molten; preferably, with a cold and creamy chaser.
Heaven, in any language.
Bojon appétit, my sweets! If you make this, I’d love to know. Please leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.

20-Minute Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
Dry Ingredients
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons buckwheat flour (3 ounces; such as Bob's Red Mill or Arrowhead Mills which are roasted, dark buckwheat flours)
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour (1 ¼ ounces; see note for gluten-free version)
- ¼ cup whole spelt (or whole wheat pastry) flour (1 ounce)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea or kosher salt
Wet Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and kept warm (1 stick)
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar (2 3/4 ounces)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (1 3/4 ounces)
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate (60 - 70% cacao mass) (5 ounces)
Optional mix-ins
- ½ cup walnuts toasted, cooled, skins rubbed off, and broken up or coarsely chopped (optional)
- 2 tablespoons cacao nibs (optional)
Instructions
Prepare Things
- Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 375º. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Make the dough
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda and salt.
- Combine the sugars in a large bowl, then stir in the warm, melted butter. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until almost combined, then stir in the chocolate chunks, nuts and nibs to distribute evenly.
Shape & Bake
- You can either bake the cookies immediately, or cover the dough and let it rest for up to 2 hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge, bringing the dough back to room temperature before scooping. In either case, scoop rounded tablespoons of dough (I use a #40 spring-loaded ice cream scoop) and place them on the parchment-lined baking sheets 3" apart.
- Bake the cookies until the edges are just set and the centers are puffed and soft (but not wet), rotating the pans front to back and top to bottom after 5 minutes, for a total time of around 8 or 9 minutes (the baking time will vary with the size of your cookies, natch).
- Let the cookies cool on the pans (or slide the parchment, cookies and all, onto cooling racks to stop the baking if you took yours a bit too far). Like most drop cookies, these are at their peak when they are just cool enough to lift off of the baking sheet. The cookies will keep in an airtight container for several days at room temperature, however.
Notes
- ¾ cup (90 g) buckwheat flour (I use Arrowhead Mills, which is roasted and certified gluten-free)
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (58 g) sweet rice flour
- 2 tablespoons (15 g) tapioca flour
How to Make Vanilla Extract says
Looks delicious, also planning to make some.
Jane says
Hello Alanna, thanks for posting this recipe! I love these cookies, I've blogged them here: http://butteredup.blogspot.com/2011/11/buckwheat-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
Sabine says
I love chocolate chip cookies, my favorite being those that aren't too sweet. But I have yet to try different flours in cookies or many other areas of baking so I definitely need to try this out!
P.S. I just stumbled upon your blog and I am so happy that I did! I have read a few posts already and enjoyed each one.
Alanna says
Jane - what a beautiful post! I'm so glad you liked the cookies.
Sabine - thanks for the kind comment!
Sylvie says
I love the taste of buckwheat flour! I made them 3 days ago, and ate them all! I'm just about to make some more. Thanks for the recipe!
Alanna says
So glad you're enjoying them!
Holly @ The Cooper Family says
I made these tonight using 100% buckwheat flour and a pinch of xanthan gum to make them totally gluten-free! I also added in a handuful of rolled oats (GF) when I added in the cocolate to give them a bit more texture since I didn't have any nuts on hand. Next time, i think I'll reduce the sugar by 2T, as they were a tad too sweet for me! GREAT recipe, can't wait to make it for years to come!
Alanna says
Holly, those modifications sound fantastic! I'm totally trying your version. So glad to know these can be made gluten-free so easily. Thanks a bunch for sharing!
Michelle says
It would be great if it were easier to find/obtain printer friendly recipes with small photos in the corner...amazing how hard this is to come by!
Would be great to keep handy and for forever in the family resources. Otherwise not printed or if so, without photo, gets lost in the piles...
Many thanks!
Shanny says
Love this recipe! I did cut back sugar and mixed with extra dark chocolate!! Thank you and I will try other recipes, so far I love all three have been tried. :)
Mike M says
Baked these yesterday afternoon. Thank you for this excellent recipe. Delicious!
Alanna says
So glad you liked them! Thanks for the note. :)
Robin says
These are perfectly delicious and easy to make. Thank you!
RF
Alanna says
I'm so glad you like them!
Catherine says
My new favorite cookie! A perfect and easy recipe!
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Yay, so glad you love the recipe. Thanks for the note!
Michele says
Wow! I'm not a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies but these are the best!
I used 3/4 cup buckwheat and 1/4 cup sorghum flour and used less than 1/2 cup sugars, using allulose instead of white and they were delicious! Thanks so much for this recipe!!! YUM.
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Aw I'm so glad those subs worked well - brilliant! So happy to hear that you liked these cookies :)
Sarah says
I have a question because all purpose flour is used is it still gluten free?
Alanna Taylor-Tobin says
Great question! This is a rare gluteny recipe on my site from the time before I was GF. But I recently tested a gluten-free version which I added into the recipe notes. Please let me know if you try it!