Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
on Jul 20, 2020, Updated Jun 27, 2024
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Sourdough chocolate chip cookies are made with cold butter, and either your sourdough discard or your active sourdough starter. They are full of flavor and easy to make.
Sourdough chocolate chips cookies are one of those simple pleasures and surprises that you might not have known you could make with your sourdough starter or your sourdough starter discard.
They are full of flavor thanks to the tang of the sourdough and great balance of salted butter and two kinds of sugar. Most people don’t pick up on their tanginess when I use my starter (instead of the discard) to make this recipe.
Herb and Garlic Sourdough Crackers, Sourdough Chocolate Muffins and Quick Sourdough Biscuits are all great recipes that call for sourdough starter or discard.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You can use your active sourdough starter or sourdough discard to make a sweet treat.
- Customize the recipe by adding multiple types of chocolate chips or even nuts.
- They freeze great so you have treats to throw in lunchboxes on busy mornings.
Recipe Ingredients
- Butter: Salted or unsalted cold butter works best in this recipe, not margarine or shortening.
- Brown sugar and white sugar: The combination of the two sugars helps with the texture and makes for a more complex flavor than just granulated sugar alone.
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Sourdough starter: If you would like a more traditional and less sour chocolate chip cookie though, use sourdough starter and not the discard.
- Baking powder and baking soda: You need both in this recipe to get the right rise.
- All-purpose flour
- Chocolate chips: Any combination of semi-sweet, milk chocolate, or white chocolate chips will work.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Step #1. Beat the cold butter and two types of sugar together with a hand or stand mixer about three minutes. Then add the egg and vanilla and mix it in.
- Step #2. Add the sourdough starter in it’s own step so as to not over beat it.
- Step #3. Add all of the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until just combined and then add in the chocolate chips of your choosing.
- Step #4. Form cookies into balls of a heaping tablespoon and bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes. Let them cool on the pan a couple minutes before removing them.
Recipe FAQs
You can use semi-sweet chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate chips or any combination of these. I prefer milk chocolate in these because it complements the sourdough tang nicely.
Yes! White chocolate chips and chopped macadamia nuts or milk chocolate chips and walnuts would both be good options.
Let the cookies cool completely before putting them in an airtight container or zip-top bag. They can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow the cookies to thaw at room temperature for an hour to two before eating.
Expert Tips
- Don’t use margarine or shortening here. Real butter is where it’s at with this recipe because it helps with the texture of the finished cookie.
- It’s a little hard to get the cold butter worked in by hand so it’s best to use a hand mixer or a stand mixer.
- The 2 full teaspoons of vanilla extract in this recipe goes nicely with the tang of sourdough. Don’t skimp on the vanilla extract.
- Stick a frozen cookie in a lunch box and it will be thawed by the time lunch comes around.
More Sourdough Recipes to Consider
Sourdough Recipes
Chocolate Chip Sourdough Bread
From Scratch Recipes
Overnight Sourdough Muffins
Sourdough Recipes
Sourdough Banana Bread
Sourdough Recipes
Sourdough Hamburger Buns
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Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup cold butter, (1 stick)
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup sourdough starter, active or discard
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips, semi-sweet or milk chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer add the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar and beat to combine well. Beat until fully mixed, about 3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine, scraping down the sides as needed.
- Add the sourdough starter and mix until just combined.
- Sprinkle the baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl. Add the flour. Mix to combine.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
- Scoop a heaping tablespoon of the cookie dough onto a baking mat or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Space the cookies about 2 inches apart.
- Bake until the cookies are golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the pan for 1-2 minutes before removing to finish cooling on a wire rack.
- Repeat with remaining cookie dough.
- Store extra cookies in an air-tight container.
Notes
- If you want less tang in these cookies, use a bubbly active starter for this recipe. If you like the tang, use your sourdough discard. If you are neutral, start by using your mature starter to see how that goes first.
- Once the starter is added, it’s important not to beat it too much because you will develop the gluten in the cookies and you’ll end up with a more chewy and cakey cookie.
- You can use a whole wheat sourdough starter or an all-purpose sourdough starter. The flavor will vary depending on the unique circumstances of your starter.
- Store in an airtight container or freeze for up to three months.
This is my lazy go to for my week day discard!
My family and I really enjoyed these! I have been making a recipe from a different blogger for a while now, and it is great, but you REALLY taste the sourdough starter in it. These are a fun use for my starter while only having a subtle sourdough taste (for me at least), which my family appreciates, and they are super yummy! Thank you!
I love how easy these came together and to have another use for my sourdough/discard – so good!
Ummmm how much flour do we add? You don’t have any listed.
It says 1.5 C flour