Chocolate Sourdough Discard Cookies

Double the chocolate with these delicious sourdough discard cookies! Super easy to make in just one bowl, you’ll be coming back for them again and again!

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About a month ago, I revived my sourdough starter after it had sat dormant in my fridge for over a year! (I think I had tried feeding it once or twice during that time, but I basically took a year off sourdough baking). The time off was necessary– we also took the summer off from gardening– but it’s been a great reminder that it’s more than okay to cut back and do less when you need to. After a period of rest, recovery, or whatever you’ve needed, you’ll have the capacity to pick things back up again if desired.

Now that I have an active and thriving starter again, I’ve resumed my regular sourdough baking rhythm. Most weeks, I batch bake 4-5 loaves at once for us to enjoy during the week. For the longest time, I didn’t think that sourdough baking would fit into my already full schedule, but that’s because I was making my decision based on other people’s rhythms instead of creating my own. Once I realized that I really only needed to commit one evening and the following morning to baking, I was able to make sourdough a regular part of my kitchen routine.

Fresh sourdough baking means a supply of sourdough discard (the “leftover” starter that you don’t feed). I’ve always enjoyed using discard for things like pancakes and waffles, but I want to explore more ways to use discard in other ways too.

Starting with chocolate, chocolate sourdough discard cookies! SO GOOD.

These cookies are like many of my favorite things in this season of life:

They can be made in about thirty minutes.

I don’t have to use a lot of dishes or pull out equipment to make them.

One batch will leave us with leftovers.

I can teach my kids how to make them for me us.

With double the chocolate flavor and a sprinkle of coarse salt on top, chocolate sourdough discard cookies will absolutely be in my regular rotation at home! (Truth be told, most likely made at night to satisfy my late-night sweet tooth).

It doesn’t get much easier than this recipe, but there are a few best practices when it comes to cookie baking.

• Start with the butter at the right temperature. As annoying as this can be, it really is essential for cookies to bake properly. For these cookies, you want butter that has been sitting out long enough to be completely softened without melting.
• Cream your butter and sugar together first, then add your remaining wet ingredients. By starting with these ingredients, you can use more speed to get the ingredients thoroughly incorporated before adding dry ingredients. (In this recipe, you can do this easily just in a bowl with a whisk).
• Use the right sugar(s). Different sugars have different structures and water content, so swapping sugar out in cookie recipes isn’t always advisable. Different sugars can make your cookies more or less chewy, change the overall flavor, or make them spread too much.
• Stir gently (and not too much) after adding your flour. Once it’s time to add the dry ingredients, you want to take care not to overmix your dough or stir longer than necessary, which can lead to excess gluten development and tough baked goods.
• Bake at an accurate oven temperature. If you notice that your baked goods aren’t turning out quite right, or with consistent results, your oven temperature could be off. Consider getting an inexpensive oven thermometer to hang in your oven so you can determine if the temperature is too high or too low.
• Ingredients matter. While it’s not often a deal-breaker, the better quality ingredients you use– especially for key ingredients like butter, flour, and chocolate– will yield noticeably tastier results.

The final tip specific to this recipe is that the consistency of people’s sourdough discard can vary a bit. So, you may need to add a splash of milk or water to thin the batter out a bit if yours tends thicker than mine.

FAVORITE SOURDOUGH RESOURCES/TOOLS:

1. Artisan Sourdough Made Simple
2. Dough Whisk
3. Lame for Scoring
4. Lodge Double Baker
5. Flour Sack Towels
6. Bench Scraper

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