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–+ servings
Stack of thick, golden sourdough chocolate chip cookies with gooey centers on a cooling rack.

Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

The optimized sourdough cookie requires a blueprint that prioritizes thickness and chew without the unnecessary complexity of browning butter, yielding a shatteringly crisp edge and a dense, gooey center.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 25 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 cookies
Calories 391 kcal

Equipment

  • Whisk or Fork
  • Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
  • Cookie Scoop
  • Parchment-lined Baking Tray
  • Flexible Spatula
  • cooling rack

Ingredients
  

Dry Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour + 1 teaspoon
  • 1 cup bread flour + 1 teaspoon
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Wet Ingredients & Fats

  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup sourdough starter discard
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter cold, cubed
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips semi-sweet or milk chocolate

Instructions
 

Mixing the Dough

  • Use a whisk or a fork to mix the bread flour, all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
  • In a separate small bowl, use a whisk or a fork to beat the egg, vanilla extract and sourdough starter until smooth. Set aside.
  • Place the cold, cubed butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Beat on low-speed until the mixture forms small crumbles, 45-60 seconds. Add the chocolate chips and mix on low-speed 30-45 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. We are not creaming the butter here; we are just breaking it down so the sugar crystals can slightly incorporate.
  • Add the dry ingredients and mix on low-speed until the batter starts to become a crumbly mixture, 20-30 seconds. Pour in the egg mixture and mix on low-speed until the dough comes together and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, 20-30 seconds. Use a spatula to stir the batter, ensuring all of the ingredients have been fully incorporated.

Chilling and Baking

  • Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough into 12 balls, (2 scoops per cookie) and place them on a parchment-lined baking tray. Cover the dough with a sheet of plastic wrap so they do not dry out. Chill the dough in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours (24 hours is best!).
  • Bake in a preheated, 375°F (190°C) oven for 15-17 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the center still appears slightly under-baked.
  • Remove and allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Notes

If using milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet, reduce the granulated sugar by one teaspoon to prevent the cookies from becoming cloyingly sweet. If you only have all-purpose flour on hand, you can use it, but be prepared for a slightly softer cookie that may spread marginally more during the bake. When baking the second batch, always let the baking sheets cool completely between batches to maintain the cold butter structure.

Nutrition

Calories: 391kcalCarbohydrates: 60gProtein: 5gFat: 15g
Keyword cold butter method, thick cookies
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