Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies

If I had to choose one chocolate chip cookie recipe to make for the rest of my life, it would be these Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies. With crispy edges, gooey pools of chocolate, and a perfect balance of sweet, salty, and slightly tangy, these are ideal cookies to me.

Best of all, making these sourdough chocolate chip cookies is so easy. I include many tips in the walkthrough guide elevating these from great to perfect.

Some of these cookie tips include chilling the dough, using the popular pan-banging method for crinkled edges, and the right way to chop the chocolate so you get gooey centers.

👉 Be sure to check out some of my other favorite sourdough discard recipes and learn everything you need to know about sourdough discard in this all-encompassing sourdough discard guide.

And if you enjoy these cookies, you may enjoy making my Brown Butter Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Sourdough Strawberry Shortcakes or my Chocolate Raspberry Sourdough Biscotti.

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🛠 Tools Needed:

Click the links below for my tool recommendations.

• Baking Scale
  • Weight measurements are the most accurate for this recipe. Especially for sourdough discard, standard measurements can vary greatly from person to person, so measuring by weight will give you the best results.
• Two Mixing Bowls
  • I use two medium-sized mixing bowls for this recipe so you can mix the wet and dry ingredients separately and then combine them together.
• Whisk
• Spatula
  • Use a spatula to fold in the large chunks of chopped chocolate.
• Cookie Scoop (optional but helpful)
  • I typically use a #20 cookie scoop, which holds 1.52oz or 3 TBS and makes medium/medium-large cookies.
  • If you use a different size, note that the baking times may need to adjust based on the size of your cookies.
• Half-Sheet Baking Pan
  • I like the Nordic Ware baking sheets linked above, but you can use any other sheet pan or cookie pan. Note that if you use a darker pan, the cookies will bake faster.
  • Furthermore, I can fit six cookies on a half-sheet pan without them baking into each other. But if you use a different-sized pan or scoops, ensure the cookies are spaced far enough apart so they don’t bake into each other.

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🛒 Ingredients Needed:

Click on the links below for my favorite ingredient recommendations to make the best Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies.

• All-Purpose Flour
  • Some recipes call for using different types of flour for varied textures in chocolate chip cookies. However, this recipe gets chewy and crispy textures using only all-purpose flour because of the pan-banging method used!
• Kosher Salt
  • I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt for this recipe. If you’re using Morton’s Kosher Salt use half the amount of salt (½ tsp).
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda
  • I use both baking powder and baking soda in this chocolate chip cookie recipe to get the right balance of textures for the cookies. Baking soda needs an acid to activate (dark brown sugar and sourdough discard), helps with spreading, and results in chewier cookies. And the baking powder assists in leavening the cookies in the oven and helps them puff up in the oven.
• Granulated Sugar
  • White sugar, or granulated sugar, helps cookies spread and obviously adds sweetness.
• Dark Brown Sugar
  • Brown sugar adds a depth of caramel flavor to these cookies and is an acid to interact with the baking soda.
  • If you only have light brown sugar, you can substitute the dark brown sugar with it 1:1.
• Unsalted Butter, melted
  • Melted unsalted butter makes mixing the cookie dough so easy! After melting though, let the butter cool slightly so it doesn’t cook your egg.
  • Additionally, the high amount of melted fat does mean that the cookies must chill before baking, or they will spread too much in the oven.
• Egg
  • The single egg in this recipe adds moisture, structure, and texture to these cookies. However, if you don’t want to include the egg in the recipe, you can skip it. Just know that the cookies may be thinner and less chewy.
• Sourdough Discard
  • There’s no need to use active sourdough starter in this recipe since the batter isn’t leavened. However, you can if you want to.
  • Sourdough discard is 50/50 water and flour, so the discard adds moisture to the cookies and contributes a slight tang to the cookies which balances out the sweetness.
  • If you don’t have a sourdough starter or sourdough starter discard, learn how to make one in a week with my day-by-day guide.
• Vanilla Extract
• Flaky salt, for topping
  • You can’t beat a sweet and salty combo and adding a touch of finishing flaky salt on top of these cookies takes them to the next level.
  • Maldon is the brand of flaky salt I typically use, but Fleur de Sel or even a light sprinkle of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt will be great.

A note on Chocolate:

• Semi-sweet Chocolate, roughly chopped
  • I usually use Baker’s Semi-sweet Baking Bars of chocolate for this recipe. The bars are 56% cocoa and are a great balance of sweetness and bitterness that I think works perfectly these cookies. However, if you prefer using bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate, or a combo of them, you’re welcome to!
  • Other popular chocolate brands that work well include Valrhona, Guittard, and Ghirardelli.
  • I highly recommend using roughly chopped chocolate bars for these over sweet chocolate chips. Chocolate chips won’t melt into gooey pools, and they usually have added fats and stabilizers, which won’t bake or melt the same way. Will they be bad? Of course not! But I encourage you to take the extra step to chop the chocolate so you can make the best cookies possible.
  • Chocolate fèves (discs or wafers) will also result in professional-looking chocolate chip cookies with puddles of chocolate.

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🍪 How to Make Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Follow this visual and detailed recipe guide as you bake these sourdough discard chocolate chip cookies.

1. Mix the Dry Ingredients

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients, including:

• 240 grams of all-purpose flour (2 cups)
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal Kosher salt (use ½ tsp if using Morton’s).

Set aside.

2. Whisk the Wet Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the wet ingredients, including:

• 13 tablespoons of unsalted butter (184 grams), melted and cooled slightly
• 100 grams of granulated sugar (½ cup)
• 143 grams of dark brown sugar (⅔ cup)
• 100 grams of sourdough discard (½ cup)
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whisk the wet ingredients until shiny and no clumps of brown sugar remain.

3. Mix the Cookie Dough and Fold in the Chocolate

Pour the bowl of dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients and whisk together until the batter is thick and most of the flour is incorporated.

Don’t overmix or your cookies may come out tough. Like pie dough or flaky sourdough biscuits, we want to develop the least amount of gluten as possible so they come out tender.

It’s okay if some flour spots remain because it’ll get mixed more when you fold in the chocolate next.

Use a spatula to fold in 10 oz (284 grams) of roughly chopped chocolate chunks into the cookie batter. Make sure the chocolate is distributed evenly throughout the batter.

Because of the melted butter, this batter will be a bit gooey and wet. However, it will harden up as it chills!

4. Chill the Cookie Dough

Cover and chill the cookie dough for at least three hours and up to three days!

Why chill cookie dough?

Chilling cookie dough is vital for the flavors of the cookies to merge together and control the cookies’ spread. Since the batter is made with melted butter, if you were to bake them straight away, they would spread out quickly as they bake and end up too thin.

During chilling, the flour continues to hydrate and all of the sugar, vanilla, sourdough, and chocolate flavors meld into a glorious cookie. Three hours is the minimum for this batter, but I highly recommend at least overnight for the best flavor!

One common question I get is if the sourdough will leaven the cookies as they chill. The answer is no because you’re using acidic sourdough discard, which has lost most of its leavening power.

5. Shape

This recipe makes 18-20 medium-large cookies using a #20 cookie scoop (about 3 TBS) per cookie and you can choose to bake all, bake some, or freeze the cookie dough after shaping them.

Place the oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven. Then, preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC). 

Line a baking pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper (FYI, I tested making these with silicone baking mats and found that the cookies spread a little too much. A parchment lined baking sheet worked better). If you’re baking all of the cookies at once, prepare a couple more baking pans. If using a half-sheet pan, you can fit six cookies on a pan.

Use the cookie scoop to scoop out evenly-sized cookies and space them on the cookie sheet(s) with at least two inches in between each cookie.

Make sure there are at least a couple of big chunks of chocolate on top of the cookie dough balls for bigger pools of chocolate. There’s usually enough when I scoop the dough, but sometimes I’ll pick a couple of pieces of chocolate and place them on top of the dough balls.

6. Bake

I use the popular pan-banging method from Sarah Kieffer’s 100 Cookies book to bake these cookies so they have crinkled, crispy edges and chewy centers. It does require you to be a little active as the cookies bake, but the process is worth it!

Bake the cookies for eight minutes until the sides have melted and the centers are puffed up.

Then, lift the pans up a few inches from the rack and drop them so that they deflate. Rotate and switch the pans in the oven so the cookies bake evenly.

Bake another two minutes and bang again. Repeat this at least once more for a total of 12-14 minutes in the oven.

Between each bang, the cookie centers should rise slightly in the oven, and the pan banging will create even waves of crinkles on the edges of the cookies.

Bake the cookies until the edges are set and brown, but the centers look gooey in the center.

Finally, remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack slightly.

Sprinkle with flaky salt before serving.

Baking Directions	Time
Bake at 350ºF (177ºC) for 8 minutes. Pan bang.	8 minutes
Rotate and switch the pans. Bake 2 minutes. Pan bang.	2 minutes
Bake 2 minutes. Pan bang. (Repeat again if not fully baked.)	2 minutes
Remove from the oven and place on a wired rack to chill slightly. Sprinkle with flaky salt before serving.	Cool for at least 4-5 minutes
*If baking from frozen, add at least two more minutes to the baking time.	Total Baking Time: 12-14 minutes

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How to Store Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s hard to beat freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. They’re warm, have pools of melted chocolate, and crispy edges.

However, you can easily store the cookies for a few days at room temperature. Keep the cookies in an air-tight container and you can keep them for at least 4-5 days. They will become chewier over time and lose their crispy edges, so if you prefer, you can reheat them slightly in a toaster oven.

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Can you Freeze Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies?

Freezing cookie dough is one of my favorite ways to have a last-night treat or a last-minute dessert for guests that requires minimal work! When you don’t have the time to make dessert or you just need your chocolate fix, baking frozen cookie dough is the way to go.

1To freeze the dough, prescoop the cookie dough into cookie balls on a baking sheet and freeze for a few hours until frozen solid. Then, place the cookie dough balls into freezer-safe bags. Store the frozen cookie dough for nine months to a year.

How to Bake From Frozen

To bake these cookies from frozen, remove the cookie dough balls from the freezer and space them evenly on a baking sheet with a few inches in between each cookie.

Follow the same instructions for the recipe, but bake them for 2-4 minutes longer. Since the cookies are baked from frozen, they will need a few extra minutes in the oven.

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Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies FAQs:

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