CHOCOLATE CHIP & BUCKWHEAT COOKIES … Hot Cross Cookies for Easter!!
“And if the Easter Bunny had wings, he would fly.”
John Reeves
Back from a short holiday and back to the mundanities which include making breakfast! Why do vacations come to an end so quick? Egg time with the kids on an Easter break … Roald Dahl inspired hot house egg for junior, and French toast for the daughter. Bored out of my mind, I began to look for something more fulfilling to do. Eggs remind me of Easter and I decided to put the empty egg shells to good use.
I love doodling, so I emptied the eggs out carefully after making a tiny hole at one end. Also thought I would make some buckwheat chocolate chip cookies a little later in the day. That offered me the bonus of more egg shells, and importantly the added bonus of egg whites for macarons for MacTweets! Egg-citing times to kill boredom!
Egg shells rinsed well, bereft of all eggy smells, I piped some white acrylic paint designs on them and let them dry. I would have liked to do them with stickers like Bethany, but couldn’t find any small stickers, so paint seemed the next best option for unedible egg shells. I would have loved to make Kinder Surprise Eggs like Joy, but too late; I didn’t boil them nor did I remove the inner membrane with my pinky finger!! Wasn’t sure how acrylic paint would react to boiling, so all plans abandoned. This time I’ve got to be happy with Easter eggs safe in their nest with colours I like. The daughter chose the blue one as her fave, the son liked them all!
To make Sunday more worthwhile I made chocolate chip buckwheat cookies, buckwheat being my recent obsession, and a surprisingly welcome addition to these cookies. It offers a nice bite to the texture of the cookie, making them crisp and delicious … healthy too. The deep colour of the cookie is due to this dark nutty milled seed flour, which darkens on contact with liquid. Not very pretty cookies to look at, but pretty delicious!!
To make Sunday more worthwhile I made chocolate chip buckwheat cookies, buckwheat being my recent obsession, and a surprisingly welcome addition to these cookies. It offers a nice bite to the texture of the cookie, making them crisp and delicious … healthy too. The deep colour of the cookie is due to this dark nutty milled seed flour, which darkens on contact with liquid. Not very pretty cookies to look at, but pretty delicious!!
Energizing and nutritious, buckwheat is available throughout the year and can be served as an alternative to rice or made into porridge. While many people think that buckwheat is a cereal grain, it is actually a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb and sorrel making it a suitable substitute for grains for people who are sensitive to wheat or other grains that contain protein glutens. Buckwheat flowers are very fragrant and are attractive to bees that use them to produce a special, strongly flavored, dark honey.
I made these cookies a while ago for the first time. At that time, I had used a lower ratio of buckwheat to flour as in the recipe below. At that time the weather was cooler and so 3 egg yolks worked well. My experiment was inspired with my success using this alternate nut flour in this Double Chocolate Espresso Biscotti. This morning, I made them with equal flour and buckwheat, 3 egg yolks, and they were still delicious, though they spread a teeny bit. With summer firmly set in and temperatures touching 40C, I think 2 egg yolks should work better to arrest the slight spreading of the cookies.
I made them into hot cross cookies because I didn’t have the time or energy to make hot cross buns, though I would have liked to! A theme, a holiday, a festival, an event all inspire me to think and mak something relevant. I love the connect, and so lavished some ‘hot crosses‘ on the cookies using a mixture of powderd sugar and a little milk! Happy Easter Sunday!!
CHOCOLATE CHIP & BUCKWHEAT COOKIES
Makes 3- 31/2 dozen cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup vanilla sugar (or granulated)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
3 egg yolks (save the whites for macarons!!)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Method:
Place both flours, salt, baking soda and chocolate chips in a bowl and stir to mix well.
Beat butter, both sugars, egg yolks and vanilla extract till light and creamy, 2-3 minutes.
Fold in dry ingredients and mix uniformly. Drop with a tbsp or cookie scoop on ungreased sheets.
Bake about 15 minues till light golden brown.
Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute, and then completely on racks.
Note: I made a second batch with 1 cup plain flour and 1 cup buckwheat flour, and those came out very nice as well. You can do either, or even substitute the buckwheat for whole wheat flour if buckwheat is not available.
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥
Don’t miss a post 
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
35 Comments
Barbara @ moderncomfortfood
So pretty, and the use of buckwheat flour for the cookies is a wonderful innovation. Many thanks, as always, for sharing your great recipes and beautiful photos of them.
Shabs..
Beautiful and stunning pics!
Suma
Easter eggs looks so very pretty Deeba!! Buckwheat recipes sound so good!!
Sue Sparks
You are so creative and your photography is exceptional! Beautiful! I could use one of those cookies right about now:)
Katrina
Mmm, the cookies look and sound great and for some reason, I think I have some buckwheat flour right now!
Love the eggs, but especially love the face on the big cookie smiling at me!
Pavithra
Stunning pictures.. beautiful eggs too. Lovely texture to the cookies makes me drool.
Pavithra
http://www.dishesfrommykitchen.com
Tangled Noodle
You have the wonderful ability of elevating the humble cookie and empty eggshells into works of art! It's nice to know we can indulge in treats like these and that they're made with such healthy ingredients! I need to get some buckwheat flour asap . . .
Bellini Valli
A wonderful Easter to you and your family Deeba. Your eggs would be a special treat to receive and decorate with. The cookies are not too shabby either!!
Rosa's Yummy Yums
What pretty eggs and lovely buckwheat cookies!
Cheers,
Rosa
Mark @ Cafe Campana
I have always wondered what the macaron obsessed do with the yolks. Now I know. Sensational recipe, these cookies look great.
Su-yin
Loving those pretty eggs, the intricate designs have me in awe!
Heather Davis
The eggs look gorgeous! I did do some chocolate ones with my daughter but the whole process was so messy. Good to eat though. The biscuits look really wholesome and tasty. Great post!
La Table De Nana
Your eggs are beautiful!
Madhuli
Love love love the eggs!beautiful..captures the real spirit of the season!and lovely cookies..i now have BW flour!thanks again for that..
Andre @ CocoaSensations
The cookies looks so lovely but what amazed me most is your eggs. It looks beautiful and colorful, especially the pink one. Thumbs up for your creativity.
Smita Srivastava
The cookies love so pretty n yummy . Love the pix too n of course the cute crafty eggs !!
Smita
@ Little Food Junction
Shirley @ Kokken69
There is a baroque feel to your eggs. They are so beautiful!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
I agree, why do holidays seem to pass at a much faster speed than regular days? And why can't we have 4 day weekends all the time? 😛 They look wonderful Deeba and I hope that you and your family had a fabulous Easter! 😀
Gloria
This look absolutely beauty Deeba you really amazing me. How ever your pictures are georgeous! huggs, gloria
shayma
deeba, these look so pretty, so dainty. youre a star! i love the photography- makes me feel like Spring is here. lots of love and hugs, shayma
best bread machines
Those eggs and pictures are really beautiful!
Megan
I love your eggs. What a beautiful decoration! And the cookies look killer. I love the look of the texture.
I hope you had a lovely Easter!
Jamie
So creative and so very pretty!
Monika
I live your colorful easter eggs, and cookies too. Lovely! Happy Easter!
Rambling Tart
Ohhh, you know how happy I am to see buckwheat cookies, Deeba! 🙂 They look wonderful, especially with those beeeyoootiful eggs. 🙂
Jo
These are absolutely gorgeous and stunning. I do so love the colours of the eggs … it is so spring!
kellypea
So many pretty shots of those gorgeous eggs! I'm a little slow to try buckwheat having only tried it in pancakes. I like it quite a bit like that, but haven't tried anything else with it. I like a nice cookie with texture 🙂
Arlette
Delicious cookies… and gorgeous looking Easter Eggs …so pretty
Happy Easter to yu and your family
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
Your eggs look so pretty, I must try and make some next year – hopefully by then Ted will be able to restrain himself from crushing them!!!
Lovely biscuits too.
Anushruti
You are simply awesome Deeba! The commitment, creativity and energy you bring to your blog is stunning!
Manggy
You could also give the cookie dough a bit of a chill (perhaps for 2 hours or so) to decrease the spreading while baking.
Federica
wow sei bravissima!!!
Barbara
Clever idea, Deeba! I use buckwheat flour in pancakes, but never would have thought to use it with cookies. Going to try it soon. And I love your eggs!!!
Purnima
Just amazing art form..loved ur minute detailing, perfect eggs, lovely colors, beautiful patterns (signature pattern :}) Too beautiful to gaze at – simply!! Feel good factor site Deeba!! (Jus read many of ur posts all together, Pune is awesomely covered by you..though I hv been several times these are still new to me! 😀 Tks to you for posting -not only visual treats but travelogues as well!)
Mowie @ Mowielicious
Oh wow Deeba! Such pretty eggs – hope you had a lovely holiday!