Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies are loaded with chocolate chips and so easy to make when you use your sourdough starter discard. No electric mixer is needed for this recipe (just your muscles), and you can have a soft, cakelike cookie or bake a little less time for a chewier cookie. Try my original Chocolate Chip Cookies recipes for another delicious recipe on this favorite classic cookie.
Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Once you have a sourdough starter, you might as well use it as often as you can! For these Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies, you will use your sourdough starter that has not been fed for a couple of days or sourdough starter discard. There’s no reason to waste any of your starter when you have recipes like this or my Sourdough Blueberry Pancakes! With all the ingredients mixed in one bowl, it’s so simple to get the dough ready to be baked into a delicious cookie.
Baking Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Once you have the dough prepared, it’s time to bake the cookies!
But, baker beware…a mere two minutes can be the difference between a softer, fluffier, more cake-like cookie and a chewier, flatter cookie. I made them both ways, as you can see in the next couple of pictures. For all of the cookies, I used a 3-tablespoon scoop of dough.
If you want the more cake-like cookie, bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. For a chewier cookie, bake for only 6-8 minutes. The baking temperature for both is 350°F.
Be sure to bake the cookies to the doneness you prefer, which can VARY depending on the water content in your starter, the size of your eggs, the humidity, and your oven. You will want to bake the cookies and start checking at 6 minutes. Keep adding an additional 2 minutes until you reach the desired doneness.
The Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies you see on the top picture above were baked in that 6-8 minute range. They have a chewier texture and did not ‘puff up’ like the more cake-like cookie below it. The cake-like cookie was baked in the 8-10 minute range. You can see the difference in the picture below as well. The cookies on the left were baked in less time than the cookies on the right.
This may vary in your oven.
How to Freeze Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookies can be easily stored in the freezer. To freeze the cookies, let them cool completely. Then, lay the cookies flat on a piece of parchment paper, put them in the freezer for a few hours, and then store them in a zipped plastic freezer-safe bag. Remember to label the bag with the date. Cookies will stay fresh for up to 3 months. Let them sit out at room temperature overnight to thaw.
Can I Freeze the Dough Before Baking?
Yes! First, form the dough into the balls as if you were going to bake them. Instead, place the balls of dough in the freezer until solid (about an hour). Then, store the dough balls in freezer-safe containers. When ready to bake, just add a couple of minutes to the baking time.
Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Mixing bowl I like using these glass mixing bowls
- Baking sheet This pan from Nordic Ware works great!
- Parchment paper I use this brand
- Kitchen scale (optional)
Ingredients
- 14 tablespoons (1 stick + 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100g) brown sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 cup sourdough starter, unfed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups (16 ounces) large chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the softened butter and sugars. (Make sure the butter is soft enough to mix with the sugar by hand.)
- Add the egg to the mixture, stirring until incorporated.
- Stir in the sourdough starter and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour, salt, and baking soda, careful to not overmix.
- Finally, incorporate the chocolate chips and let the dough refrigerate for 15 minutes or refrigerate up to overnight. (I have made them without refrigeration and they get more cake-like in texture.)
- When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F. (Let the refrigerated cookies come to room temperature.)
- Drop spoonfuls (2-3 tablespoons) of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. (I use a 3 tablespoon ice cream scoop.) Bake 8-10 minutes for a cake-like cookie. Bake 6-8 minutes for a chewier cookie. (My recommendation!) The cookie MAY appear a little wet in the center and that is ok. It will continue to bake and be cooked throughout after being out of the oven for a few minutes.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
amazing easy recipe!! I mixed it in the mixer
Oh my. I will NEVER make cookies a different way after trying these! They are just as simple as making Nestle Tollhouse cookies but 10000% better. They are light, fluffy, not too sweet – wow. The sourdough pushes it over the edge that makes these truly perfect.
How many grams is 1 cup of the sourdough starter? Thanks! Will be making these as soon as I get your answer!
Google says 227 grams is one cup!
My son described these as similar to a muffin top texture. They are so good! They are a delicious way to use my sour dough discard! Thanks!
So, I have a mature, very wet einkorn sourdough starter. I’m very new to sourdough, but I think the moisture content or the fact that my starter is einkorn impacted this recipe. My “cookies” turned out more like soft, fragile, flat chocolate chip pancakes (I started checking at 6 min, but had to cook the full 8, otherwise they were raw). They taste nice, but don’t look like the photos and are not really cookie like. I refrigerated them after they cooled to see if it would help them hold together better and they now taste a bit like soft batch chocolate chip cookies, which definitely isn’t a bad thing. I like the straight forward recipe, but it didn’t work as intended with my starter.
I made these tonight. My family loved them.
Can you freeze the cookie dough to bake later?
Am interested in the answer as well
Hi, Lap! I work with iambaker and am happy to help with questions. Regarding freezing the dough to bake later, yes, you can certainly do that. First, form the dough into the balls as if you were going to bake them. Instead, place the balls of dough in the freezer until solid (about an hour). Then, store the dough balls in freezer-safe containers. When ready to bake, just add a couple of minutes to the baking time. I hope this helps, and have a wonderful day!
I love this recipe! I have a questions, Can I freeze the dough? I would love to make a big batch and freeze. Thank you:)
These are fluffier and more chunky than my go to chocolate chip cookies but they are a really nice change of pace and a great use of sourdough discard. I had to make mine smaller and bake them longer but they came out great… Muffin top like or Blondie like would be accurate! Yummy
Divine, melt in your mouth yummy , serve warm with a side of vanilla ice cream! I add walnuts, coconut and slivered almonds plus the choc chips.