This is truly my personal ultimate sourdough choc chip cookie recipe. For me, that means a cookie that’s chewy & fudgy on the inside, crispy on the outside, not too sweet, a lil’ bit salty, and loaded with chocolate chips. If that’s your favourite kind of chocolate chip cookie too, you’re in the right place!
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This is a super easy recipe you won’t even need a mixer for, plus you can easily customize it with whatever mix-ins would make your heart happy. Personally, I think it would go great with some chopped pretzels and Skor bits, but crushed potato chips wouldn’t go amiss, either. Though I’m already a huge fan of potato chips in cookies, so maybe I’m just a bit weird that way. Honestly the hardest part of this recipe is having to wait for them to chill (but I promise it’s worth the wait). I made this recipe at least a dozen times, tweaking one thing or another each time until I landed on this version which I confidently state is my personal ultimate. It might be yours, too. Only one way to find out!
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Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- You’re going to brown the butter anyway, so there’s no need to bring it to room temperature first.
- Did I mention browned butter? Not only is browning a great way to remove water from the recipe so we can make more room for sourdough discard, it also adds a ton of caramelly & nutty flavour to the cookies. It’s worth the extra 5-10 minutes of effort, trust me.
- The recipe makes a lots of cookies. Sure, you can always scale it down, but honestly the amount of effort required stays almost the same so I highly recommend making the full batch. That way you can bake some the same day, age some of the dough for improved flavour and texture (more on that below) and freeze the rest so you can have fresh-baked cookies any time you want.
- Thanks to the sourdough discard, these cookies stay soft and chewy for days!
Key Ingredients
Apart from some pantry staples, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter is my butter of choice, so you can control how salty the cookies are. That said, you can absolutely use salted butter, but you might want to reduce the salt called for in the recipe (or not, if you really like the whole sweet & salty thing).
- Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bars. Use any kind you like. I love doing a 50/50 mix of milk and dark chocolate.
- Sourdough discard from an established sourdough starter. If you don’t have one yet, it’s actually pretty easy to make one from scratch! You can learn how to make your own starter here, I promise it’s not hard! The sourdough discard adds just a subtle tang which balances well with the richness and sweetness of these cookies, and helps keep them soft & chewy for days!
- Powdered milk is an optional ingredient, but it adds a lot of flavour to the browned butter so I highly recommend it! You can use nonfat or regular.
- Flaky sea salt is another optional ingredient but an easy way to make the cookies feel extra fancy
Tips for Making The Best Sourdough Choc Chip Cookies
- Chill the dough. I cannot stress this enough, people. The dough will be super soft right after you mix it, and if you try baking it right away it will melt out into sad puddles and you’ll want to leave angry comments here. All it really needs is 1-2 hours in the fridge, just enough to firm up the scooped dough balls so they stand a chance in the oven.
- Age the dough for at least 2 (and up to 4) days. While you only need to chill the dough long enough for it to firm up, if you can stand to wait a bit longer it really improves the flavour and texture. Why? I’m glad you asked! There are a few things that happen if you let the dough chill out in the fridge for a little while. First, the flour gets time to hydrate completely which improves the texture. Second, the enzymes in the flour will begin to transform the starch in the flour into simple sugars which improves flavour and browning. Finally, the sourdough in the recipe will do some fermentation which is always good for flavour and texture. Patience is hard, but good things are worth waiting for!
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chewy and soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, and loaded with chocolate chips—these are truly my personal ultimate chocolate chip cookies!
Ingredients
Method
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together 450 g all-purpose flour, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, ¾ tsp baking soda, and 1 ½ tsp sea salt. Set aside.
- Add 225 g unsalted butter to a large frying pan or saucepan, preferably light-coloured so you can easily see when the milk solids start turning brown. If you're adding powdered milk, have 30 g powdered milk in a small bowl near the stove so it's ready to go as soon as you need it. Melt the butter over medium-low heat. As soon as it's melted, add all the powdered milk to the pan and stir immediately with a heatproof spatula so the powdered milk doesn't stick to the bottom and burn. Keep cooking the butter over medium-low heat while stirring and scraping the bottom constantly until you see lots of caramelized milk solids. Remove immediately from the stove so the butter doesn't burn.
- Pour the still-warm browned butter into a large mixing bowl. Add 220 g granulated sugar and 220 g brown sugar and stir to combine. Add 3 large egg yolks, 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract, and 240 g sourdough discard and stir to combine until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until combined (some dry flour remaining is fine). Add 500 g chocolate chips or whatever mix-ins you're using, and fold through the dough gently until evenly distributed.
- Use any cookie scoop size you like (or a couple spoons or ¼-cup measuring cup) to portion the dough out into balls on a lined baking sheet. The dough balls can be touching, there's no need to leave space between. Cover and chill for at least 1-2 hours until the dough firms up, or for 2–4 days to age the dough for improved flavour and texture.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350˚F (175˚C). If baking one sheet at at a time, put one oven rack in the center. If you're baking two sheets at once, place one rack in the top third and a second in the bottom third of the oven. Arrange the dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, leaving a few inches of space between so the cookies don't spread into each other.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes for average-sized cookies. Larger cookies will need more bake time. Turn the baking sheet about halfway through for even baking, and if you're baking two sheets at the same time switch their positions on the oven racks as well. Bake until the cookies have spread and puffed and are just starting to turn golden around the edges.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies are best enjoyed the day they're made, but will be delicious and soft for up to a week. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
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Notes
Have fun with the mix-ins! You can use any chocolate chips you like, or chop up some chocolate bars. Chopped pretzels, crushed potato chips, chopped up candy bars, or Skor bits would all be great, too! Any combo of mix-ins you like that add up to 500 grams should work great. Just bear in mind if you’re including a lot of potato chips, you’ll want to aim for far less than 500 grams because potato chips are so light and airy.
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