When I posted a photo of these Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies on social media, there were a number of requests for the recipe. Bread makers are always looking for ways to use sourdough discard, and this is one of the best. It involves an extra step, but it’s worth it.
You can make the dough the day before, and then roll and bake them as needed. I froze half the batch in serving sized portions (2 dough balls per bag – 1 for the hubby, 1 for me) to prevent inevitable gorging.
Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
The recipe comes from The Boy Who Bakes in the UK, Edd Kimber. His goal was to find a way to use discard to make chocolate chip cookies. Wow, did he succeed! Look no further than this recipe. You can watch his video in the link above to see the whole process, or just scroll down. It’s all here.
Ingredients
- 225g unsalted butter, diced (don’t bother dicing- it melts whole just the same on low heat)
- 380g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp flaked sea salt
- 220g caster sugar
- 220g light brown sugar (we used coconut sugar – worked great, slightly less sweet)
- 3 large egg yolks
- 240g sourdough starter discard (100% hydration)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 500g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (we used chips, still satisfying)
Method
The extra step is right up front – browning the 225g butter. It turns the butter into a caramel-infused base for the cookies that has less water (read: better cookie that holds up in the oven).
When simmered, butter becomes foamy at first, then clears up and the solids settle to the bottom of the pan. Don’t take your eyes off it at this point (we don’t want to burn the butter). Once the solids turn golden brown, turn off the heat and let cool for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, mix the 380g flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt in a small bowl to combine. In a large mixer bowl, weigh out the sugars (220g each).
Mixing the Dough
Then once the butter is cool, add it to your mixing bowl of sugars and blend for a few minutes. The add your 3 egg yolks and whisk for 2 to 3 minutes at medium speed. You’ll see the color lighten in the bowl.
Next, add the 240g starter and 1 tsp vanilla and mix for a few minutes until it looks “like thick cake batter”. Then add the flour mixture on low speed until everything is well mixed. Switch to the paddle hook to mix in the 500g chocolate chips. It will look like this when you’re done:
Press plastic wrap over the surface of the dough and store it in the fridge until ready to use, at least 4 hours. We left it in overnight and baked in the morning (cookies at 9:30 a.m….dangerous). The longer you leave it in the fridge the more the sourdough flavor develops. If you’re not a big fan of the sourdough flavor, bake after 4 hours.
Baking the Cookies
When you’re ready, preheat the oven to 350ºF (320ºF for convection) and roll the dough into balls weighing 70g each. Yes, use the scale, even cooking is key. Place dough balls on parchment lined cookie sheets with a few inches between them – 6 per tray. Sprinkle with a little additional flake salt if desired (the cookies already have salt in them, so if you’re not a fan of salted sweets, leave out this finishing touch).
Bake for 16-18 minutes (we did the full 18 and they still came out perfectly soft and gooey on the inside, lightly crisp on the outside. Let them cool for 10 minutes on the tray before transferring to a rack to cool completely. Kimber says you can bake the dough straight from your freezer stash by adding a couple extra minutes to the baking time. You can also halve the recipe, using only 1 egg yolk.
The recipe makes 25 large cookies, so do take advantage of freezing some dough for later. One cookie is more than enough to split with a friend and since you’ve gone through all that trouble, best to save some for later. Discard never tasted so good!
