Dorie’s Double-Buckwheat, Double-Chocolate Cookies

There’s double doses of goodness in these cookies. Where to begin? First, there’s a double helping of buckwheat AND a double dosage of chocolate. To add to that, there’s a salty-sweet element too. Most importantly, these cookies are for an ultimate good, worthy, and loving cause. Please read on…

Earlier this year I heard that Dorie Greenspan was releasing a new cookbook…a cookie book entitled “Dorie’s Cookies” and I’ve been so looking forward to its release all these months (to be released October 25th)! It’s a cookbook filled with over 300 of her recipes, and it includes in that lineup her World Peace Cookies (its the cover image) and the infamous Jammers!

Dorie Greenspan’s “Dorie’s Cookies”

But what makes this cookbook release even sweeter now is that I’m also participating in a fantastic cause with OXO who has also teamed up with Dorie for their yearly Cookies for Kids’ Cancer campaign. OXO will be donating $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blog post (up to $100,000!) which times up to also be National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I am honored to be a part of this campaign once again (see also the campaign from a couple of years ago featuring my Pumpkin Pie Spices Spritz Butter Cookies).

Today, 25% of children diagnosed with cancer will not survive. There is a direct correlation between increasing research dollars and decreasing mortality rates. Progress has been made, but there’s still a long way to go.

Visit OXO Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. To learn more about this worthy cause, visit cookiesforkidscancer.org.

Dorie’s Double-Buckwheat, Double-Chocolate Cookies & OXO Non-Stick Cookie Sheet

There were several options of cookies for me to share in this post. I was particularly interested in this one because it uses not only buckwheat flour, but a medium granulation of kasha (a pseudocereal buckwheat), as well. I’ve been especially drawn to recipes that use various forms or origins of flours and grains so this cookie really called out to me. The chocolate duo with the sea salt was sure to be a win-win combination.

You’re using two egg yolks for the recipe so save the egg whites to use later like in an egg white omelet, Parisian macarons, friands, Italian Amaretti cookies or meringues!

The recipe calls for flake sea salt and a sanding sugar. I used raw sugar and coarse sea salt instead, because it’s what was already in the pantry. I liked the sugar-n-salt element so much on the test batch that I decided to roll the edges of each cookie in it and then lightly sprinkle the tops of each sliced cookie.

Dorie’s Double-Buckwheat, Double-Chocolate Cookies & OXO Non-Stick Cookie Sheet

This recipe has instructions for baking it up as either a free-form or a slice-and-bake cookie. Many of the bloggers that participated in this campaign baked it up beautifully in a free-form style (also as pictured in Dorie’s Cookies book) and used the handy OXO double pastry wheel to shape their cookies. I decided to instead share the slice-and-bake alternative to further demonstrate a different version of the cookie treat.

The cookies were baked and are featured throughout the images on the OXO Non-Stick Pro Cookie Sheet which features a unique micro-textured, waffle-like pattern that ensures even baking and adds structural rigidity. An oversized edge makes it easy to grip and carry to and from oven.

Double-Buckwheat, Double-Chocolate Cookies – OXO On Illuminating Digital Hand Mixer & OXO Double Pastry Wheel

Making the cookie dough definitely requires more than just arm-muscle strength…so an electric mixer is in dire need here! This was easily achieved using the OXO Illuminating Digital Hand Mixer with a light to guide you as you’re blending/whipping up your edible creations and includes digital controls to steadily increase or decrease the mixer’s speed. A nice feature on the mixer is that there’s a wrap-and-secure cord, and flat, stable base for compact, upright storage!

I love how these tasty cookies turned out! They’re not too sweet but are the perfect treat with that cuppa-joe or afternoon tea without feeling like you need a bottle of water to chase it down. The medium granulation kasha, lends a subtle texture and also adds to the structure. What’s especially enjoyed is the contrast of the cookie itself and its texture laced with the sea salt.

Visit some of the other bloggers’ posts that baked up Dorie’s double-buckwheat, double-chocolate cookies.

I’m looking forward to Dorie’s book and more to share when I get my grubby hands on my own copy! Many thanks and much appreciation to OXO and Dorie Greenspan for teaming up for this lovely campaign and including me and my Teenie Cakes blog as part of those efforts.

Twitter: @OXO / @Cookies4Kids
Instagram: @OXO / @Cookies4Kids
Facebook: facebook.com/OXO / facebook.com/CookiesForKidsCancer
Pinterest: pinterest.com/OXO / pinterest.com/Cookies4Kids

Visit OXO Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. To learn more about this worthy cause, visit cookiesforkidscancer.org.

~XO Cristina

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Dorie’s Double-Buckwheat, Double-Chocolate Cookies

Makes 80 free-form or 60 round cookies

From Dorie’s headnote: “I doubled up on the two most important ingredients in these cookies, and I even doubled up on how you craft them. There are two kinds of buckwheat in the cookies, buckwheat flour and kasha (buckwheat groats), and two kinds of chocolate, cocoa powder and dark chocolate. There are two different ways to make them: slice-and-bake or arts-and-crafts free-form.
The buckwheat is the charmer here. The flour makes the cookies tender and gives them a subtle nuttiness that only buckwheat habitués will identify. no one will guess there’s kasha in them, but it gives the cookies crunch and a fuller flavor than you’d think you’d get from such tiny nuggets. The kasha’s got a fabulous texture too. It’s a crunch-lover’s dream. (But you must use granulated kasha, such as Wolff’s, in this recipe; whole or cracked kasha is tooth-breakingly hard.)
If you roll the dough into logs, chill and slice and bake them, you’ll get cookies that are firm around the very edges and cakey, soft and almost melty everywhere else. If you roll the dough out free-form, bake it and cut it any which way the instant it comes out of the oven, your cookies will be tender through and through. (Only the thinner edges of the free-form shape crisp.) Whatever you choose, these taste better and look prettier with a last-minute sprinkle of sanding sugar and flake salt.”

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups (227 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup ( 120 grams) buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup (21 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 sticks (8 ounces; 226 grams) unsalted
• butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup ( 100 grams) sugar
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup (45 grams) kasha, preferably Wolff’s medium granulation (see headnote)
• 4 ounces ( 113 grams) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons sanding sugar, mixed with 1 teaspoon flake sea salt, such as Maldon, for sprinkling

Method

1. If you’re going to make free-form cookies, position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat it to 350 degrees F. (If you’ll be making slice-and-bake cookies, preheat the oven after the logs have chilled.)
2. Whisk both flours and the cocoa powder together. (If the cocoa is lumpy, sift the dry ingredients, then whisk to blend.)
3. Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a largebowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, both sugars and the salt together on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Drop in the yolks and beat for another minute, scraping the bowl as needed, then add the vanilla. Turn the mixer off, add the dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed until they are almost incorporated. This takes a minute more than you might think it should; at first the dough looks crumbly and then it starts to darken, moisten and come together. Mix in the kasha and chopped chocolate. Use a large flexible spatula to give the dough another few turns and mix in any loose ingredients.
4. Turn the dough out and divide in half.
To Make Free-Form Cookies:
5. Shape each piece of dough into a disk. One at a time, place between pieces of parchment paper and roll out to a thickness of
   1/4 inch. It’s the thickness, not the shape, that matters. (I usually go for a rough oval or round.) Peel away both pieces of paper from one piece of dough, then return the dough to one piece of paper and slide it onto a baking sheet (if you don’t loosen the bottom paper, the dough will curl during baking). Repeat with the second piece of dough. Sprinkle the dough with the sugar-salt mixture.
6. Bake for 14 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets top to bottom and front to back at the midway mark, or until the cookies are set — the edges will be more set than the center, which might still have a bit of give when gently prodded. Slide each cookie slab, still on the parchment, onto the counter. Using a pizza wheel or a knife, cut the big cookie into as many cookies of whatever shape you like. I cut it into strips about 1 inch wide and then cut these diagonally so that I end up with diamond-shaped cookies. Slide the cookies, still on the paper, onto a rack to cool to room temperature.
To Make Slice-and-Bake Cookies:
7. Roll each piece of dough into a log that’s 12 inches long (see page 12 for tips on log-rolling). Wrap well and freeze for at least 1 hour, or refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
8. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven as on page 203. Slice each log 1/3 inch thick and place the cookies about an inch apart on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone mats. Sprinkle with the sugar-salt mixture.
9. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes, rotating the sheets top to bottom and front to back at the midway mark, until the cookies are firm around the edges and give slightly when pressed in the center. Transfer the cookies to racks to cool completely. © Images & content: Cristina A-Moore for TeenieCakes.com.

Teenie Notes

Storing
• If you’d like, you can freeze the dough, either rolled out or shaped into logs, for up to 2 months; be certain to wrap it well. The logs can also be refrigerated for up to 3 days. The cookies can be baked (or sliced and baked) straight from the freezer; add a minute or two to the baking time. The cookies will keep covered at room temperature for about 4 days; they can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 2 months.

source Dorie Greenspan’s Dorie’s Cookies, 2016, p204

Dorie’s Double-Buckwheat, Double-Chocolate Cookies & OXO Non-Stick Cookie Sheet