Sourdough Pumpkin Brownies

You’re going to love these Sourdough Pumpkin Brownies with fudgy chocolate and a pumpkin cream cheese swirl!

The sourdough discard pumpkin brownies are made with real pumpkin puree, tangy sourdough discard, cream cheese, a touch of pumpkin spice, and chocolate chips.

Swirl the pumpkin cream cheese and fudgy brownie batter to create a fun orange-and-black Halloween inspired sourdough recipe to make this fall.

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👍 Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Chocolate and pumpkin complement each other with pumpkin’s earthy creaminess and bittersweet chocolate, like in this Sourdough Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread.
• Slightly more cake-y and bar-like than my super Fudgy Sourdough Brownies.
• Hint of pumpkin spice with added cinnamon and other spices.
• Pumpkin cream cheese swirl adds a beautiful marbled orange contrast to the dark brownies. Plus, it adds great tanginess with the discard in like these popular Sourdough Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins and Sourdough Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Chai Cream Cheese Frosting.
• Stay moist for days with real pumpkin puree, butter, and sourdough discard (no oil in the recipe).

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👨‍🍳 Expert Tips to make Sourdough Pumpkin Brownies

• A small amount of baking soda helps create a lighter pumpkin brownie that rises tall in the oven. This is helpful in this recipe, due to the weight of the pumpkin cream cheese swirl.
• Ensure your cream cheese is completely softened so you don’t get lumps.
• For a mesmerizing pumpkin swirl, use a butter knife or wooden dowel to create the pumpkin brownie marbling affect. Don’t overdo it or the swirl may get lost.
• Top with flaky salt to balance out some of the richness and sweetness.
• The sourdough pumpkin brownies are finished baking when a toothpick comes out mostly clean with only a little batter on the toothpick.

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🛠 Tools Needed

• Baking Scale
  • Measuring your ingredients by weight instead of volume is essential to ensure a more consistent and accurate bake.
• 8″ Square Baking Pan
  • The recipe makes 16 bars in an 8×8″ square pan. If you use a 9″ square baking pan, they will bake faster but be squatter.
• Whisk, for whisking the two batters
• Mixing Bowls
  • I like to keep the brownie and pumpkin cream cheese batters in separate bowls from each other, but you can make this in one bowl if you clean it out in between.

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

See below for more information, variations, and possible substitutes.

Sourdough Brownies

• All-purpose Flour
  • If you want to make the sourdough pumpkin brownies heartier and denser, substitute all the flour with whole wheat flour.
• Salt
• Baking Soda, for leavening
  • If you want extra fudgy brownies, leave the small amount of soda out of the recipe. When recipe testing, I found the ¼ tsp of baking soda helped keep the swirl better intact since the pumpkin cream cheese didn’t weigh down the batter.
• Sourdough Starter
  • Use active sourdough starter or unfed sourdough discard for these pumpkin brownies.
  • Don’t have a sourdough starter? Learn How to Make a Sourdough Starter and make a stronger sourdough starter with my top sourdough starter tips and why I maintain a small sourdough starter.
• Unsalted butter, melted
  • The melted butter adds richness, flavor, and fat for moisture like in my Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies.
  • Can substitute with melted coconut oil.
• Eggs, for structure
• Dutch-Process Cocoa Powder
  • You can use natural cocoa powder in this recipe, but Dutch-process is darker and alkalized, so it’s neutral vs. acidic natural cocoa powder.
  • See more Chocolate Sourdough Recipes if you love chocolate.
  • If you want a very dark cocoa color and flavor, you could even make this with black cocoa like in my Homemade Sourdough Oreos.
• Granulated sugar
  • These brownies are decadent, but not overly sweet. Don’t reduce the amount of sugar, because it adds necessary structure, sweetness, and moisture to the recipe.
• Vanilla Extract
• Chocolate Chips
  • I use mini semisweet chocolate chips (such as in my Sourdough Chocolate Protein Granola Bars), but you can use regular size chips or chunks like in my Sourdough Chocolate Muffins and Chocolate Sourdough Bread.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Swirl

• Cream Cheese, softened
  • It’s very important the cream cheese is room temperature so you don’t have lumps in the swirl. It’s like making Sourdough Frosting or the brown butter cream cheese frosting for my Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls.
  • Use full-fat cream cheese so the swirl will hold its consistency. Otherwise, it’ll be too runny. I use Philadelphia cream cheese.
• Canned Pumpkin Puree
  • I always use Libby’s canned pumpkin for consistency in my baking, but you can make your own pumpkin puree to use here too.
• Pumpkin Pie Spice
  • Pumpkin spice is a mixture of various spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and clove. It’s almost like chai spice in my Sourdough Banana Bread.
  • If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, use ½ tsp of cinnamon, ¼ tsp of nutmeg, ¼ tsp of ginger, and a big pinch of clove.
• Granulated sugar
  • Use granulated sugar so the pumpkin swirl stays bright orange.
• Egg Yolk
  • The yolk makes the pumpkin cream cheese silky with a richer flavor and even more orange color.
• Flour
  • A small amount of starch (flour here) helps bind the pumpkin filling together, prevents too much cracking, and gives some stability while baking. You could also use cornstarch or tapioca starch.

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🎃 How to Make Sourdough Pumpkin Brownies

Follow this visual step-by-step guide to help make these delicious Sourdough Pumpkin Brownies.

1. Mix the Wet Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC). Line an 8″ square baking pan with parchment paper and spray the parchment with non-stick spray or oil to prevent sticking.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla, sourdough discard, and cocoa powder for a couple of minutes until fully incorporated.

Melt the butter over the stovetop or in a bowl in the microwave. Then, slowly whisk the butter into the wet ingredients (slowly pour in to temper the eggs and not cook them).

2. Mix in the Dry Ingredients

Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a small bowl.

Add it along with the chocolate chips to the batter and fold just until the flour is hydrated.

Set aside while you mix the pumpkin cream cheese batter.

3. Make the Pumpkin Cream Cheese

In another bowl, mix together the softened cream cheese, pumpkin puree, egg yolk, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and flour until creamy and no lumps of cream cheese remain.

4. Swirl the Batters

Scrape the chocolate sourdough brownie batter into the prepared baking pan.

Then dollop the pumpkin cream cheese filling on top (it may be runnier than you think, which is okay), and use a butter knife, wooden dowel, or spoon to carefully swirl the batters together, creating a marbling effect.

Don’t over mix or you may lose the marbling.

5. Bake

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the edges of the sourdough pumpkin brownies begin to pull away from the sides and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean.

Cool completely on a wire rack before removing the pumpkin brownies from the pan, releasing from the parchment paper, and slicing into 4×4 rows to create 16 bars.

Finally, top with optional flaky salt.

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How to Store, Make Ahead, & Serve

These sourdough pumpkin brownies store extremely well due to the added moisture from pumpkin puree and sourdough discard (similar to how mashed sweet potatoes keep these Sourdough Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls and Sourdough Sweet Potato Biscuits soft).

Due to the cream cheese in the swirl, cover and refrigerate the pumpkin brownies for up to a week.

To make ahead, you can freeze cooled slices in a freezer-safe bag for a couple of months. Thaw at least overnight in the refrigerator.

The brownies are an excellent Halloween treat or fall dessert and make 16 servings.

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❓FAQs:

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