Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
on Jul 20, 2020, Updated Mar 05, 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.
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
- 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.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the mix.
- 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.
- Add all of the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until just combined and then add in the chocolate chips of your choosing.
- 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!).
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
- I prefer to use my bubbly active starter for this recipe because my kids don’t like the sourdough tang in the cookies (I think it’s really pleasant, my husband thought I added lemon!).
- If you like the tang, use your sourdough discard. If you are neutral, I’d start with using your mature starter to see how that goes first.
Nutrition
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!
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