Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

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.

You are going to love trying this unique sourdough recipe at home and you’ll like eating the results even more.

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

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.

I love making these cookies in the afternoon and enjoying them while the kids have friends over to play. The funny thing is that most people who eat these don’t know that they are made with sourdough starter. The tang is pleasant but subtle and most people don’t pick up on it when I use my starter (instead of the discard) to make this recipe.

What can I do with sourdough discard?

Oh there are so many things that you can do with sourdough discard including making cookies! The fun thing about this recipe though is that you don’t have to only have discard to make them, you can make them with either sourdough discard or a bubble active starter.

If you use a sourdough discard you’ll end up with a cookie that’s a little more flat, a little more crisp, and more sour in flavor. If you use your active fed bubbly starter you’ll end up with cookies that are slightly more cakey in texture, not very sour in taste (if at all), and they stay a bit more domed in shape. I tried this recipe with a whole wheat and with an all-purpose starter too and there were subtle variations with each as well.

That being said, these cookies will take on a life of their own as you make them with your unique starter under its unique circumstances, just know they’ll be delicious regardless of what starter or discard you use.

Ingredients in Sourdough Chocolate Chips Cookies

• Butter: I like to use cold butter for this recipe. I think it helps with the texture of the finished cookie. Don’t use margarine or shortening here, real butter is where it’s at. Both salted and unsalted butter work great.
• 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: helps to bind the cookies and makes the texture tender.
• Vanilla extract: I use 2 full teaspoons of vanilla extract in this recipe and I think it goes really nicely with the tang of sourdough.
• Sourdough starter: I love that this recipe used an active starter or sourdough discard. It’s great with both. If you like a more traditional and less sour chocolate chip cookie though, I’d recommend using the sourdough starter and not the discard.
• Chocolate chips: you can use semi-sweet, milk chocolate, white chocolate, or a combination of any of those for these cookies. I actually prefer milk chocolate in them. It compliments the sourdough tang nicely.

Steps needed to make Sourdough Starter Cookies

1. Start by beating the cold butter and sugar together. It’s a little hard to get the cold butter worked in by hand so I recommend using a hand mixer or a stand mixer.
2. Add the egg and vanilla to the mix.
3. I add the sourdough starter in it’s own step so as to not over beat it. When you beat the starter too much you develop the gluten in it and you’ll end up with a more chewy and cakey cookie. So avoid over beating the dough once the starter has been added.
4. Add all of the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until just combined and then add in the chocolate chips of your choosing.
5. Shape, bake, eat, and enjoy! Easy!

How do I freeze sourdough chocolate chip cookies?

Let the cookies cool completely before adding them to a Tupperware with a tight fitting lid or a zipper topped plastic baggie. Stack carefully and then freeze for up to 3 months. Allow the cookies to thaw at room temperature for an hour to two before eating. Sometimes I stick frozen cookies in lunch boxes and they’re thawed by the time lunch comes around.

Other Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes you'll love:

• The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (the secret is using MELTED butter!)
• Giant M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches
• Cheater Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (made with a cake mix, it's a really fun recipe)

More sourdough starter or discard recipes:

• Herb and Garlic Sourdough Crackers
• Sourdough Chocolate Muffins
• Easy Sourdough Waffle Recipe
• Quick Sourdough Biscuits

So all of the recipes above are great for fresh starter OR discard (I love flexibility in recipes!).

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Long live all the sourdough recipes that use either your discard or a fresh starter. I hope you make a little time to try homemade sourdough cookies soon and enjoy them as much as we have. Happy sourdough baking friends!