Perfect Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies (With Discard Option!)

Transform your sourdough starter into an irresistible treat —sourdough chocolate chip cookies! This easy recipe works with both active starter and discard, creating perfectly balanced cookies with a subtle tang that’ll have everyone asking for seconds.

There’s something magical about the moment when chocolate chip cookies come out of the oven – but add sourdough starter to the mix, and you’ve got something truly special on your hands. As a longtime sourdough baker, I’ve discovered that incorporating sourdough starter into classic cookie recipes adds an incredible depth of flavor you just can’t get any other way.

Sourdough chocolate chips cookies are one of those simple pleasures and surprises that you might not have known you couldmake with your sourdough starter or the discard.

They are full of flavor thanks to the tang of the sourdough and great balance of salted butter and two kinds of sugar and are a fabulous treat for any afternoon snack or party!

Why You’ll Love These Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Active Starter or Discard:You canuse your active sourdough starter or sourdough discardto make this sweet treat. You’ll never have to waste sourdough discard again!
• Perfect Texture:The cold butter technique creates perfect cookie texture every time — the best tip for these cookies!
• Customizable:You can mix up the flavors by using other types of chocolate chips or even nuts.
• Bulk Baking:These cookies are perfect for batch baking and freezing! Make ahead on the weekend and stick in the freezer so youhavetreats to throw in lunchboxeson busy mornings.

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Recipe Ingredients

• Butter —No margarine or shortening substitutes, please! Only real butter for this recipe.
• Sugar —brown and granulated (white) sugar
• Egg
• Vanilla extract
• Sourdough starter —If you would like a more traditional and less sourchocolate chip cookie, use sourdough starter and not the discard.
• Baking powder
• Baking soda
• All-purpose flour
• Chocolate chips —Any combination of semi-sweet, milk chocolate, or white chocolate chips will work.

See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.

How to Make Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Step 1:Beat the cold butter and two types of sugar together with a hand or stand mixer about three minutes. Then add the egg and vanilla and mix it in.
• Step 2:Now add the sourdough starter and mix until just combined. Do not over beat it!
• Step 3:Add all of the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until just combined and then add in the chocolate chips.
• Step 4:Form cookies into balls of a heaping tablespoon and bake at 350° F for about 10 minutes. Let them cool on the pan a couple minutes before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Recipe FAQs

Expert Tips

• Butter Only:Don’t use margarine or shortening here!Real butter is where it’s at with this recipe because it helps with the texture of the finished cookie.
• Mixing Helper:It’s a little hard to get the cold butter worked in by hand so it’s best touse a hand mixer or a stand mixer.
• Vanilla Flavor:The 2 full teaspoons of vanilla extract in this recipe goes nicely with the tang of sourdough. Don’t skimp on the vanilla extract!
• Lunch Goodies:Stick a frozen cookiein a lunch boxand it will be thawed by the time lunch comes around.
• More or Less Tang:Most people don’t pick up on the sourdough tanginess when I use my active starter, so if you want less tang, use an active starter. If you want more sourdough tang, then use the discard to make this recipe.

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