Hello from Cheese Camp! I'm out in beautiful Vermont for the next few days with Vermont Creamery and a few of my favorite bloggers to learn about all things cheese and Vermont!! Our days are gonna be filled with cheese making, pottery throwing, cider tasting, and hanging with kids (baby goats). I'm so excited to be here rn that I could barely sleep last night, which tbh, is hard to believe because thanks to a long flight delay, I traveled for something like 16 hours yesterday. But I got a free pepperoni pizza pretzel out of it, so it's all good!

Before I left, a very exciting package came in the mail, and I tore it open so fast, I nearly gave myself a paper cut (I didn't). Alternative Baker!! I have been waiting for this book for what feels like years, actually it has been years, and it definitely did not disappoint. Alanna, the mastermind behind The Bojon Gourmet, just slayed the gluten-free baking game. I had the privilege of trying some of her cookies, not these, a while ago, and have been dreaming about them ever since. While gluten-free baking isn't something I have to do, this book makes me want to do it. By using flours like buckwheat, chestnut, and sweet rice flour, she has created recipes that make you forget you're not using gluten! 

These cookies are not to be missed. They are in the book as buckwheat bergamot double chocolate cookies, but alas, bergamot was not in the cards for me, so I went with Alanna's substitution recommendation of orange. Perfection. They're divine little brownie-like pillows of chocolate magic with the right amount of nuttiness (hello, buckwheat) and citrus (hi, looking at you orange zest). And the crackly tops, flecked with Maldon, gosh they sure do look pretty! Not trying to tell you what you need or don't need, but you probably need these cookies and Alanna's book in your life.

BUCKWHEAT ORANGE DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

From The Bojon Gourmet's Alternative Baker

Makes about thirty 2-inch (5-cm) cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 6 Tbsp. (85 g) unsalted butter

• 12 oz. (345 g) bittersweet chocolate (60–70% cacao mass), chopped (about 2 1⁄4 cups), plus several chunks for the tops of the cookies

• 11⁄2 tsp. (1 g) packed finely grated zest from 1 medium orange (or bergamot if you can find it!)

• 1⁄2 c. (65 g) buckwheat flour

• 2 Tbsp. (15 g) tapioca flour

• 3⁄4 tsp. baking powder

• 2 large eggs, at room temperature

• 1⁄2 c. plus 2 Tbsp. (130 g) organic granulated cane sugar

• 1⁄2 tsp. fine sea salt

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• Flaky salt such as Maldon, for the tops

TOOLS

• Sharp knife

• Heavy-bottomed saucepan

• Fine mesh sieve

• Small bowl

• Stand mixer

• Silicone spatula

• #40 spring-loaded scoop

• Parchment lined baking sheet

• Wire cooling rack

FIX

1. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350ºF (175ºC). Line 2 rimless cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Place the butter in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan set over the lowest possible heat. Add

3. 8 ounces (230 g) of the chocolate and the orange zest, and melt together, stirring frequently to prevent the chocolate from scorching. Continue cooking until the mixture is pleasantly warm, but not super hot, to the touch. Remove from the heat and keep warm. Sift the buckwheat flour, tapioca flour and baking powder into a small bowl and set aside.

4. Meanwhile, place the eggs, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and whip on medium-high speed until the mixture is very light and fluffy, 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low and stir in the vanilla until just combined, then the warm chocolate butter mixture. Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a flexible silicone spatula to fold in the remaining 4 ounces (115 g) chopped chocolate.

5. If the batter is very runny, let it cool for a few minutes until it firms to the consistency of a thick brownie batter. Use a #40* spring-loaded ice cream scoop or 2 spoons to drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them at least 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Top each cookie with a few chunks of chocolate and a few flecks of flaky salt.

6. Bake the cookies until puffed and cracked and the edges are set, 8–12 minutes, rotating the pans front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking. Let cool on the pans. Enjoy warm or at room temperature. The cookies are best the day of baking but will keep, airtight at room temperature, for up to 3 days. 

*Note: I used a #30, so my cookies were bigger and needed to bake for 12 minutes.