Unique in all the best ways, these Oat and Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies have a crisp exterior, a soft center, and incredible flavor. They’re quick to make and even quicker to disappear. Naturally gluten-free, they’re a cookie everyone will love.
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These Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies have been a family favorite for years. If you're wondering whether a cookie made with buckwheat and oat flour can stand up to a classic CCC, trust me—these are some of the best chocolate chip cookies ever. Unconventional? Yes. But once you try them, you'll be a believer too.
I originally developed these cookies because of my unusual food allergy—I’m allergic to raw wheat. Since good chocolate chip cookies are often baked "medium rare," it’s tough for me to enjoy one without dealing with a reaction. So, out of necessity, I created this recipe. But I didn't want just a stand-in gf version of a CCC, I wanted a really delicious chocolate chip cookie, one that could be loved by all eaters.
These cookies are made with two different flours: buckwheat flour and oat flour. Buckwheat flour, technically a seed flour, has a distinct, slightly earthy flavor and a dark color that adds depth to the classic cookie. When I first developed this recipe, I used only buckwheat flour—and it was good! But over time, I started adding oat flour to balance the flavor and texture. Oat flour, made by grinding oats into a fine powder, has a mild, slightly sweet taste. It adds chewiness, helps retain moisture, and keeps the cookies tender inside while still crisp on the outside. Together, these flours create a well-balanced, complex cookie that is truly delicious, and have easily replaced any desire to have a typical CCC.
Ingredients Needed and Substitutions
Here is a brief overview of the ingredients needed for this recipe, and a note on any substitutes if applicable. The full recipe with quantities is listed below this text in the recipe card. This recipe is m
- buckwheat flour (this cookie works well with the use of all buckwheat flour if you need a substitute with oat flour)
- oat flour (you can substitute oat flour with all-purpose flour if needed (or use all buckwheat flour, as mentioned above)...the texture will be a bit chewier since gluten is introduced, and the cookie will lose some of its unique flavor, but it still holds up well overall)
- unsalted butter
- granulated sugar + brown sugar (light or dark)
- egg
- whole milk or cream (just a touch is needed to help keep the cookie moist with the absorbant oat flour
- vanilla extract
- baking soda
- salt: This recipe was tested using Diamond Crystal coarse kosher salt. If you use Morton's kosher salt or fine salt, decrease by half for volume or use the same amount by weight. Want to learn more about this? Check out this Guide to Baking with Salt.
- Chocolate chips (see section below)
Let's Talk Chocolate Chips
Go ahead and use your favorite type of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate in this recipe. I like to use a mix of mini chocolate chips and extra-large chocolate chips. I love these Super Cookie Chocolate Chips from Guittard (affiliate link) for the big chips.
After the chocolate chips are folded into the cookie dough, it's best to top the dough with a few extra chocolate chips before baking them. I use in total about 10 ounces of chocolate chips between the chips folded into the batter and the chips placed on top of the cookie dough.
Want to use chopped chocolate? Go for it. Any and all chocolate works for this recipe.
Browned Butter Makes Everything Better
This cookie uses browned butter and it's one of the flavors that makes this cook so darn good.
In case you've never made it before, browned butter is simply butter that has been cooked until the milk solids separate out from fat and toast up. It's a simple step, but essential.
A few tips for making browned butter:
- Don't walk away from it. Browned butter can go from light golden and deliciously fragrant in one second to black and burnt in the next. So hang tight and watch the butter as it toasts up.
- Use a light-colored pot if possible so you can see the color. Don't be afraid of the color. You want it to be golden brown. If it's too light in color then it won't have as much of that nutty richness.
- Use your nose! Once the butter starts to become fragrant, you know it's done.
- Once it's done, immediately remove it from the pan and into the bowl you'll be mixing together your ingredients with. The residual heat from the pan can burn the butter even after it's off the heat.
Add the butter to a light-colored medium pot.
Cook over medium until the butter browns.
Step-By-Step Recipe Overview
After you brown the butter, this step comes together pretty easily. To make the buckwheat cookie dough, everything is mixed together in a bowl. And, because there is no gluten in this dough (unless you've made substitutions) there is no concern about overmixing.
Here is a quick visual overview of the steps needed to make this recipe, and not intended to be the full recipe. The full recipe is located towards the bottom, keep scrolling!
Step 1: Add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt to the hot butter and whisk together.
Step 2: Whisk in the egg until the mixture is shiny, then whisk in the milk and vanilla.
Step 3: Add in the dry ingredients.
Step 4: Stir together.
Step 5: Add in the chocolate chips.
Step 6: Stir together, and optionally let rest for 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
Baking the Cookies
The dough is quite soft when first made. While you can scoop the cookies right away, I find it easier to handle after a quick 15-minute chill in the fridge. It’s a small step, but worth the effort.
This recipe makes about 22 cookies, which means you'll need 2 baking sheets to make them. I find that to achieve the most even bake, baking the trays one at a time is best. Or, you can bake them both at the same time. The bottom tray will be crispier than the top tray.
The cookies are baked for only about 9-11 minutes. Nine minutes with a perfectly heated oven will produce very soft, "medium-rare" cookies. 11 minutes will produce fully baked, yet still soft on the interior cookies. In my oven, I find 10 minutes to be the sweet spot.
These cookies do not contain any gluten, which means they are quite tender, especially when they're pulled straight from the oven. So let them set up for about 20 to 30 minutes on the baking tray, if you can wait that long. Don't worry, they'll still be warm and gooey after that intial cool down period. If you try to pick them up when they super warm, they'll likely fall apart.
How to Store Them
These cookies keep really well at room temperature in an air tight container for up to 5 days. They also freeze really well. I've never personally had any leftover in my freezer for more than a month, but I imagine they'll keep for about 3 months in the freezer.
Because of the oat flour, it's not recommended to freeze the raw cookie dough. Instead, freeze fully baked cookies instead.
Watch the Video Here:
Full Recipe
Buckwheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Unique in all the best ways, these Oat and Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies have a crisp exterior, a soft center, and incredible flavor.
- Total Time20 minutes
- Yield22 Cookies
- DietGluten Free
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons (110 grams) unsalted butter, diced
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 grams) brown sugar (light or dark)
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt (see note)
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup (60 grams) whole milk or cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-½ cups (180 grams) buckwheat flour
- 1 cup (120 grams) oat flour (see note)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Chocolate chips to your heart's content (or about 10 ounces)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and place oven racks in the upper-middle and lower-middle parts of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add the butter to a light-colored medium pot (see note). Turn the heat to medium and let the butter melt. Keeping watch, continue to cook the butter, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula. It will foam at first, then it will pop and sizzle, and then the foaming will start to subside. Stir constantly after it stops popping and check to see if there are deeply golden solids forming at the bottom of the pot. It is done when the butter is deep yellow, with golden bits at the bottom and it smells intensely of nutty butter. Once ready, immediately turn off the heat and pour all of the browned butter, including the browned bits, into a heatproof bowl.
- While the butter is still hot, add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt to it and whisk together. Next, add in the egg and whisk until the mixture is shiny.
- Add the milk and the vanilla and whisk until smooth.
- Add in the buckwheat flour, oat flour, and baking soda and mix together until fully combined.
- Add in at least 1 cup of chocolate chips and mix together.
- Scoop and roll the dough into balls about 2 tablespoons in size and place them spaced evenly apart on each baking sheet (about 11 per sheet). Stick additional chocolate chips on top of each cookie dough portion.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are puffed up, 9 to 11 minutes, switching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Let the cookies cool for at least 30 minutes before serving, as they will be too soft to handle at first.
Notes
You can substitute all-purpose flour for the oat flour. The resulting cookie will be slightly chewier with a less nuanced flavor. I truly recommend sticking with the combination of buckwheat and oat flour if you can, but the cookie turns out pretty good with all-purpose flour in place of the oat flour if needed.
As always, I recommend weighing your flour here! Weighing your flour is the most accurate way to measure. If you aren't going to weigh it, make sure to spoon it into the measuring cup and then level it off. If you scoop the flour out with the measuring cup and then level, it could change the outcome of the final product.
This recipe was tested using Diamond Crystal coarse kosher salt. If you use Morton's kosher salt or fine salt, decrease the volume by half. See this Salt Guide for more information about how salt affects your cooking and baking.
I recommend using a light-colored pot to brown the butter because it makes it easier to see the golden milk solids. If you don’t have a light-colored pot, that’s ok. Just make sure to use your other senses to assess when the browned butter is done. It should smell very fragrant and deeply of nutty butter.
I’ve tried every type of chocolate chip in this recipe over the years, including chopped chocolate, and they all work beautifully. Use whatever chocolate or chocolate chips you have on hand. My favorite combination is small chocolate chips mixed into the dough and larger ones pressed on top before baking.
Originally published in 2019, this recipe has been regularly re-tested and updated to ensure it remains perfect.
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Lori Finnila
These are close to the regular toll house cookie recipe in taste!
Kelli Avila
It's crazy how delicious they are with the alternative flour!
Addie
Hello - I have a bag of oat/buckwheat flour blend; how would I use that in your recipe?
I'd like to make them today so I hope you get this soon 😋
Kelli Avila
I'm not familiar with it, but I think just give it a go as the entire quantity of flour called for and see how it turns out. Let us know!
April
I just made them. I substituted oatmilk for milk and used only lite brown sugar. Turned out great.
Lisa Taunt
These are yummy... different but in a good way. My oat flour was not as fine as I'd have liked and I was shy a little buckwheat so I subbed a 1:1 gluten free all purpose flour. I'd make these again. Bringing to a group dinner so we'll see how they go over with gf peeps.
Catherine maxey
Very good recipe. I My friend cannt have milk so I used another whole egg. Worked well. Great taste and texture.