Brown Butter Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chunk Cookies
These brown butter sourdough discard chocolate chunk cookies are rich, decadent, and packed full of melty chocolate. With soft centers and crispy edges, these easy cookies put a new spin on the traditional chocolate chip cookie and are sure to be a hit with everyone!
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 2/3 cup white sugar or cane sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup salted butter at room temperature
- 2 egg yolks
- 2/3 cup sourdough discard
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chunks milk, dark, or semi-sweet are all great! See notes for other chocolate options
Instructions
- Start by making the brown butter. Place both sticks of butter in a small saucepan or light-colored skillet. Heat over medium heat, stir gently as the butter begins to melt. And continue stirring occasionally after the butter has completely melted. Continue to cook until the butter has turned golden brown, the foam on top has slightly subsided, and the milk solids on the bottom of the pan have toasted. It will smell intensely buttery, nutty, and rich.
- Just be sure to keep a close eye on your butter as it browns. Mine is usually done within 5 minutes, but it can cook faster or slower, so be sure to watch it closely—you don’t want to burn your butter!
- Remove the pan from the heat and allow your brown butter to cool for 5–10 minutes.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the white sugar, brown sugar, and egg yolks, and mix or beat until well combined. Add the vanilla extract, sourdough discard, and cooled brown butter, and mix well.
- Now you can either mix your dry ingredients in a separate bowl or simply add them to your large bowl (which is what I usually do). Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and mix well. Then add the flour and mix until combined.
- Finally, stir in your chocolate chunks, mixing just until incorporated.
- Place your cookie dough in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Remove the cookie dough from the fridge and begin rolling it into balls. I usually use 1 tablespoon of cookie dough, but you could also use 2 tablespoons, depending on how big you want your cookies (you can also use a cookie scoop).
- Place your cookie dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet, keeping a decent amount of space between each cookie (I usually bake 5–6 per tray).
- Bake for 8–10 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the centers seem set.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 3–5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
- Serve warm with a glass of milk, or allow the cookies to cool to room temperature.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Any leftover sourdough discard chocolate chunk cookies can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in an airtight container or freezer bag at room temperature for up to 5 days! Keeping your cookies in an airtight container will help them stay chewy in the center. Just be sure they are completely cooled before storing.
The number of cookies you get from this recipe will depend greatly on the size you make them. Using about 1 tablespoon per cookie, I got over 2 dozen cookies—but obviously, you’ll get fewer if you make them bigger and more if you make them smaller.
You can also use unsalted butter to make these cookies, but I’ve found that salted butter gives me the best-tasting browned butter. Also, feel free to add chopped nuts, oatmeal, or even a variety of chocolates to this recipe. You could even top them with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
As I mentioned above, I love using chocolate chunks for these cookies, but you can just as easily use chocolate chips to create brown butter sourdough chocolate chip cookies. You can also use white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or even flavored chocolate—or you can use chopped chocolate!
I love lining my baking sheets with parchment paper for easy cleanup, but it can definitely be skipped if you don’t have any on hand.
Personally, I’ve never made these cookies with active starter, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. The worst that would likely happen is that your cookies would be slightly fluffier. Other than that, I think an active sourdough starter would work just as well as sourdough starter discard.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookieCalories: 250kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 3gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 202mgPotassium: 92mgFiber: 1gSugar: 18gVitamin A: 264IUCalcium: 30mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!