sourdough brown butter chocolate chip cookies
Sourdough cookies? Yep, you read that right. These cookies came into creation last spring during peak SOURDOUGH EXPLORATION, that so many people went through. I had created my sourdough started (Sir Jean Luc-Batard…hahaha yes I’m a huge nerd) last January, and quickly realized that I needed some discard recipes to keep up with my bread baking. Whenever you feed your starter, you have a bunch of “sourdough discard” leftover that, if you’re like me, will sit in your fridge and will soon be out of control. Ha! So last spring I started a series of discard recipe trials. (You might also like my sourdough waffles !)
Chocolate chip cookies are a big staple at my house. I guess you could say they’re my go to “comfort food”. My freezer pretty much always has a bunch of dough balls in it just waiting to be baked up and eaten warm! So it was an obvious place to start.
Sourdough discard is made up of: flour & water. Which meant that in order to add it to a cookie recipe, I needed to reduce some of the liquid and flour from my standard recipe. First I decided to brown the butter, as it’s made of about 80% fat and 20% water. The browning process removes that water content, and has the bonus of adding delicious, nutty flavour. Then I simply reduced the amount of flour in my recipe by just a tad, and voila! We have sourdough cookies.
Does it taste sour? It adds a pretty subtle sour taste, but nothing crazy since we aren’t letting it ferment for much time at all. This may vary a bit with your own individual starter! I also did one trial where I refrigerated the dough for 24 hours before baking, which slightly increased the tang, but it still wasn’t overwhelmingly strong. My starter is also at 100% hydration - equal parts water and flour, so if yours is at a different rate you may need to adjust things slightly. As always, throw one test cookie into the oven to start, and go from there!
sourdough brown butter chocolate chip cookies
yield: about 17 cookies
Ingredients
1 cup (225 g) salted butter - browned*
1 cup (200 g) packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
160 g sourdough starter**
2 1/2 cups (312.5 g) all purpose flour
1 cup chocolate chips/chunks
flakey salt - for garnishing
*if using unsalted butter or margarine, add 1/2 teaspoon salt*
**my sourdough starter is 100% hydration - so if yours is stiffer, you may need to reduce the amount of flour slightly.
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line one or two cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and set aside.
First brown the butter: in a medium saucepan, heat butter over medium high heat. The butter will melt, and then begin to foam after a few minutes. Continue to cook, stirring frequently (I simply swirl the pan, but you may want to scrape the bottom and stir with a wooden spoon if it appears the brown flecks (milk fat) are sticking!), until brown flecks appear on the foam, and you can smell a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool slightly.
While the butter is cooling, prepare the remaining ingredients: add the brown sugar, white sugar, and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl. Crack the egg into a small bowl, and set aside. Measure out 160 g of sourdough starter into a separate bowl, and set aside as well.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the baking soda, baking powder, and flour.
Once the butter has cooled to almost room temperature, add it to the sugars, and mix on high for 2-3 minutes. Add the egg, and mix on high for another 2 minutes, until the mixture is smooth and lightened. You don't want the butter to be hot when you mix the egg in, or it could cook the egg a bit! Add the sourdough starter to this mixture, and mix on medium speed until combined.
With the mixer on low, slowly add in the dry ingredients, and mix until a few flour streaks are still left. Be sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything will be incorporated evenly. Add in the chocolate, and mix on low until everything is just combined. The dough may be soft and even a bit stretchy at this point, but should easily roll into dough balls. If it seems sticky or hard to work with, simply chill in the fridge for 15 minutes and try again.
Use a cookies scoop, or simply your hands, to roll the dough into cookie balls. Gently flatten the tops of each cookie to help it spread when baking. I weighed mine to 65 g - if you want smaller cookies, reduce the bake time by a couple minutes, and if you want larger cookies, add a couple minutes. The dough should yield about 17 cookies. For pools of chocolate, cut large chunks of chocolate and place 1-2 pieces on the top of each cookie.
*Place 5 or 6 cookies on a prepared cookie sheet, and bake for 11-13 minutes.
When the cookies are done (my ideal cookie looks set except for the very middle - remember they'll cook slightly more once you remove them from the oven), remove from the oven, and immediately sprinkle with flakey salt so that the salt will stick. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the pan, and then carefully transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm!
Cookies will keep for several days in an airtight container at room temperature, but will stay fresher if stored in the freezer.
Alternatively, freeze uncooked cookies on a cookie sheet, and then transfer to an airtight container for future baking. Then pull out a frozen cookie dough ball and bake whenever you'd like! Add about 1 minutes of bake time for a frozen cookie, no need to thaw before baking!
Notes:
*I recommend doing 1 test cookie to figure out your ideal bake time - this may vary slightly with the type of pan, your oven dynamics, the temperature of the cookie dough, and the size of the cookies.
for a slightly stronger sour taste, you may make the cookies the day before, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before baking!
the browning of the butter cannot be skipped, as it helps account for the water added by the sourdough starter! Butter tends to be about 80% fat, and 20% water, so the browning process cooks off the excess water.
happy cookie baking!
-Kelsey
Decadent chocolate cookies with white chocolate chunks and topped with lucky charms for a whimsical touch.