Buckwheat Molasses Cookies

As the weather gets colder, I tend to spend more quality time with the oven - hey, it keeps the kitchen warm! And what better cookie for this colder weather than something spicy, like gingerbread or gingersnaps? Unfortunately, with my wheat sensitivity, ginger snaps are not an option but I've found some wheat-free ginger cookies recipes that I'm more than happy to try.

I found this recipe while searching for a buckwheat gingerbread cookie online. Why buckwheat? Well, as the blogger of Always in the Kitchen says, it does have a very strong taste. I love it in soba but not so much in baked goods. I bought a rather large bag of dark buckwheat a while ago, and it's been sitting in our pantry, waiting to be used. I can still detect buckwheat in the cookies, despite the spices, but I don't mind that at all.


I wouldn't suggest running out and buying buckwheat just for this particular recipe. I don't even know if I'd ever buy buckwheat flour again. I think I'll just stick with spelt and oat, as usual. I made gingerbread with spelt once, and they turned out nicely. Not as crunchy as wheat gingerbread, but still tasty.

The buckwheat cookies will be very soft and fragile when they first come out of the oven. They will be quite fudgey and almost raw-looking in the middle but they firm up once they are completely cooled.

I made a few changes from the original recipe, which will appear is italics in parenthesis.



Buckwheat Molasses Cookies (Makes about 2 dozen cookies)
adapted from Always in the Kitchen

1 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup arrowroot flour (I used corn starch)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup oil
1 cup sugar (I used 1/2 brown sugar, 1/2 evaporated cane juice)
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves

In a large bowl, whisk the oil, molasses, and sugar. Add egg and beat until smooth.

In a medium bowl, sift buckwheat flour, corn starch, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix to combine.

Add dry ingredients to wet, and using a large rubber spatula, fold.

Roll 1 tbsp of dough in hands, and place on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 350 C for 10 minutes. Cookies will be very soft at first but will firm up after they cool.