No Ordinary Cookie

I have something a.ma.zing to share with you today. It comes in the form of an innocent little cookie and looks quite unremarkable sitting on its cooling rack fresh out of the oven.

Come to think of it, the poor dear is still not much to look at twenty-four hours later. But let's not be superficial.



Molly has raved about this cookie recipe, and when Molly raves about something, my head starts nodding in agreement before I even take a bite of my own replication. She's a sly one in that way.

So, these little buckwheat cookies with the crunch of raw chocolate have been filed away in the back of my head for a while, and they finally came into being last night. The nibble we all agreed to take last night was pleasant enough, but today their flavor is deeper and yet gentler. The buckwheat isn't so abrasive, and the cocoa nibs have released their aroma throughout the crumb.

You might get some strange looks when you nonchalantly ask someone, "Do you want a buckwheat and cocoa nib cookie?" But if they've got any sense in them (okay, and an ounce of adventure), you'll have many pleased palates before you.

Now here's the recipe I just know you're itching for...

Buckwheat Butter Cookies with Cocoa Nibs

Seeking Variety

I never set out to make a name for myself in the cookie baking department. In fact, looking at my recipe index, it would appear I have a ways to go until that title is truly earned. But ask my coworkers what they expect to find in the break room on Wednesdays, and they'll quickly answer back with "Lael's cookies."

A particular recipe I made a while ago launched me into being a weekly cookie baker in my office and I have stuck faithfully to that recipe since. The wonderful thing about it is that within the same dough you can replace or add any number of things and get something new and different, yet still with a melt-in-your-mouth sensation.

However, I am not always the best example of a creature of habit because while I like consistency in some senses, I can get incredibly bored with it. For one, I'm not the kind of person who eats the same thing for breakfast every single morning. And, while I love to give myself an extra half or full hour to exercise in the morning, the activity may range between walking, running, or any number of yoga sessions.

All that to say, I can't help mixing things up on Cookie Day sometimes. I try to stick to a similar type of cookie, at least, and last week's variation was subtle but still special in its own way. Instead of using powdered sugar, I used unrefined cane sugar and cut the amount of all purpose flour in half, replacing the rest with whole wheat. The eggs were left in the fridge, and a coarsely chopped chocolate bar was mixed in.

I cannot claim this adaptation as an invention of my own brilliance. In fact, it's an entirely different recipe. One from the mind of Dorie Greenspan, and the other from the equally admirable Alice Medrich. Both produce a cookie with similar proportions of ingredients and delicate flavor that spaciously fits in the palm of your hand.

I can't remember where I first saw this recipe, but when Googling it, I found that The Wednesday Chef had made it, and it's quite possible I first read about it there.

Whole Wheat Sables*

*Alice's recipe calls for cocoa nibs or chopped hazelnuts, both of which sound lovely, but I had an Endangered Species dark chocolate bar with espresso beans on hand, so I used part of that.