Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Looking for the perfect homemade cookie recipe? Try these delicious and easy sourdough chocolate chip cookies! Read through for the best tips and information, or skip to the recipe for the video and step-by-step instructions.

Is there anything better than chocolate chip cookies? They’re a classic – the classic. Full of delicious, buttery brown sugar and studded with all the chocolate you want.

These have the added quality of sourdough. Most cookie recipes utilize a refrigeration period to help emulsify the liquids and starches, but this recipe uses that as much as a fermentation period. This can help aid in digestion and serves as a prebiotic component – yes, a nutrition benefit in your tasty treat! As an added bonus, you get the rich flavor of sourdough.

Ingredients for sourdough chocolate chip cookies

The main difference between these and traditional cookies is the addition of sourdough starter. Other than that, the ingredients are exactly what you’d expect.

• Butter
• Brown sugar
• White sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Egg
• Sourdough starter
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Semi-Sweet chocolate chips

One thing to note is that the texture of the dough will be a little different than your usual cookie. If you’re familiar with sourdough baking, you’ve probably noticed that even a little bit of fermentation changes the texture of your dough. Cookies are no different. You may wonder if your dough is too thin, but trust me, it’s not.

Additions and Ingredients Substitutions

If you’ve been around this website much, you know that I have an extensive gluten-free recipe collection thanks to my husband’s food allergies. I wish I could give you a substitution for how to make this recipe gluten-free. Still, I have not ventured into gluten-free sourdough yet, so I would recommend Sharon’s Gluten-Free sourdough Chocolate chip cookie recipe instead.

Other substitutions and changes are a little easier

• Butter: To make this dairy-free, use vegan butter such as Earth Balance vegan butter or Country Crock plant butter.
• Sugar: You can easily use all brown sugar or all white sugar. Similarly, swap the sugar for turbinado or another less processed sugar.
• Chocolate chips: For a dairy-free option, use Enjoy Life chocolate chips. You can also swap chocolate chips for just about any baking chip, such as peanut butter or white chocolate. You can also use chopped dark chocolate rather than chips.
• Some really good additions are nuts: pecans are perfect; almonds, walnuts, peanuts, etc. are also great additions.
• Other great additions are chopped candies, mini Reese’s, Reese’s Pieces, M&Ms, coconut flakes, etc.

I’d add about 2/3 of a cup of additional mix-ins to this batch of cookies.

How to Make Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. In a small bowl, combine your four, baking soda, and salt, and set aside
2. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy
3. Beat egg and vanilla, then active sourdough starter into the wet ingredients
   
4. Next, whisk in the dry ingredients that you set aside earlier
5. Once that is all combined, stir in chocolate chips
6. Cover, and set aside for 30 minutes to 2 1/2 hours, until ready to bake, or overnight in the fridge
   
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350º
8. Scoop cookie dough by the tablespoon onto an uncreased (I use a standard 1/2 oz. cookie scoop) or parchment paper lined sheet pan, leaving 2-3 inches between each cookie.
   
9. Top with a bit of flaky sea salt if desired
10. Bake in preheated often for 9-10 minutes, until the cookies are set around the edges but soft in the middle. If you like your cookies on the softer side, set your timer for 9 minutes, or for more done, 10 minutes.
    
11. Remove from oven and let cookies set on the sheet pan for 2-3 minutes, then remove to a plate or cooling racks.

How to store cookies

When cookies are completely cool, the chocolate chips may still be gooey, so for less mess, just cover them lightly until chips are set, then transfer them to an airtight container and store them for up to several days.

Frequently asked questions

• Does my sourdough starter need to be active? No, you can use discard, but an active starter will go to work to ferment your grains more quickly.
• Can I use this recipe to make a skillet cookie? Yes. Use a greased 10-inch cast iron skillet and bake for 35 minutes.
• Can I use whole wheat flour? Yes. Your cookies will be heavier.
• Can I freeze the cookie dough? Yes. I recommend letting the dough ferment before freezing so you can use it straight out of the freezer.
• Should I use salted or unsalted butter? I typically use salted butter in my recipes. If you use unsalted, I would add a pinch more salt to the recipe.
• Can I use brown butter? When you brown butter, some of the liquid evaporates, leaving you with less butter. I would look for a recipe that uses brown butter, or you can brown your butter and measure a half cup out to use so that you can be sure to have the correct volume for this recipe. 

More sourdough recipes for you:

• Sourdough Sandwich Bread
• Sourdough Tortilla Recipe
• Sourdough Hamburger Buns
• How to Feed Sourdough Starter
• How to Use Dehydrated Sourdough Starter

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