Sunday, March 16, 2014

Gluten-free buckwheat cookies recipe

Tatraküpsised. Buckwheat cookies.

Are you on Pinterest? I am, with a nice number followers (thank you, all!) and various "boards". One of my boards is called buckwheat recipes, and I've been pinning various recipes there utilising this non-grain/pseudo-grain. Despite the name, you see, buckwheat is not a grass, but a plant related to sorrel and rhubarb.

During the recent months I've noticed that this particular board is getting new followers on a daily basis, and individual buckwheat recipes get repinned by increasingly many pinners. Buckwheat is "in". I guess the popularity of buckwheat recipes is caused by a) this "pseudo-grain" being gluten-free and hence suitable as a wheat substitute for all those avoiding gluten and b) some popular Paleo templates/frameworks allow small to moderate consumption of buckwheat dishes. Plus it has a lovely nutty flavour when baked.

Have you tried buckwheat? It's pretty popular here in Estonia and I've got several buckwheat recipes here on Nami-Nami (listed at the end of this post, see below). While I prefer cookies with buckwheat groats, then I tend to have some buckwheat flour in the house as well. It's the compulsory ingredient in blini, the small yeasted pancakes served with smetana and caviar. Plus I love this buckwheat cookies recipe that I discovered years ago in a British food giant's Sainsbury's client magazine. Apparently the original recipe is by Doves Farm, and you could also use rice flour instead of buckwheat flour. I prefer buckwheat, for it has a lovely flavour of its own. Note that my version has way less sugar (100 g instead of 150 g)  - if you've got a very sweet tooth, you may want to use more sugar perhaps.

I used to make these with chopped hazelnuts, but since our son is sensitive to hazelnuts, I've been using sliced/slivered almonds instead.

Have I missed your excellent buckwheat recipe and you'd like me to include it to the buckwheat recipes board? Leave a link to your blog post in the comments and I'll check it out!


Buckwheat cookies
(Tatraküpsised)
Makes about 2 dozens

Buckwheat and almond cookies. Mandli-tatraküpsised.

125 g butter, at softened
100 g caster sugar
1 egg
150 g (light) buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
100 g chopped hazelnuts or chopped/sliced almonds

Heat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar, followed by the egg. Mix in the flour, baking powder and nuts/almonds, combine. (If the mixture is on the dry side, add a spoonful or two of cold water)*.

Take a heaped teaspoonful of the mixture, roll into balls and place onto the baking sheet. Gently press with a fork to flatten the cookie dough balls a little.

Tatraküpsised. Buckwheat cookies.

Bake for 15-20 minutes in the preheated oven until the cookies are light golden.

Let cool for about 5 minutes, then transfer onto the metal rack to cool completely.

* I've also used a different method - combined all the dry ingredients (buckwheat flour, sugar, baking powder), added the grated softened butter and the egg, and simply mixed everything and rolled into walnut-sized balls.

Buckwheat cookies. Tatraküpsised mandlitega.

More buckwheat inspiration here on Nami-Nami:
Buckwheat with leeks and soy sauce
Buckwheat with beets and dill
Cabbage and buckwheat kasha
Buckwheat kasha with mince
Warm buckwheat and mushroom salad
Buckwheat with beef liver
Buckwheat and mushrooms casserole

More buckwheat cookies by other bloggers:
Buckwheat chocolate chip cookies by Karina @ gluten-free goddess
Multiseed buckwheat cookies  by Clotilde @ Chocolate & Zucchini
Nibby buckwheat butter cookies by Heidi @ 101 cookbooks
Buckwheat sugar cookies @ LA Times
Buckwheat chocolate chip cookies by Garrett @ Vanilla Garlic
Buckwheat chocolate chip cookies by Alanna @ The Bojon Gourmet

7 comments:

karlsdad said...

these look like a delightfully different kind of cookie, a bit higher in fiber and protein with a nice flavors as well.

Laura said...

I was going to head to my kitchen and take out the butter for softening... but what do you mean by light buckwheat flour?

Pille said...

Laura, any buckwheat flour will do. Just I prefer the lighter, untoasted kind (you'll find buckwheat groats as well in different shades. The toasted one that's popular in Russia and traditionally in Estonia, is too toasty to my liking, so I tend to buy organic one that's paler in colour).

Laura said...

Thank you, now I know what you mean.

Unknown said...

Another great recipe. Thanks. I will try this as soon as I get home.

Margaret@Kitchen Frau said...

I love your blog and love all your recipes. A lot of them remind me of things my mom cooks - she was born in Moldova and spent some of her childhood there and in Germany. I have 2 recipes using buckwheat flour: Apple Buckwheat Crumble Cake, and Buckwheat Blue Cheese Biscuits.
http://www.kitchenfrau.com/apple-buckwheat-crumble-cake/ http://www.kitchenfrau.com/buckwheat-and-blue-cheese-biscuits-to-serve-with-end-of-winter-root-vegetable-soup/

Dlaperka said...

I like this :)