Summary:

I have been baking sourdough ever since the start of Covid. I have tried many recipes using sourdough discard, including cookie recipes, and have not been really pleased with any of them. That said, these are really good. I think Amy came up with a great combination to deal with the extra water contained in the discard. She browns the butter, which removes a lot of the water, and uses only the yolk of the egg. Chilling the dough and baking at a relatively high temperature and with convection makes them cook and brown quickly on the outside, while the inside is underdone. It really works. Don’t skip the chilling. I baked the second sheet after the balls had been sitting on the counter, waiting for the first batch to bake and they really did flatten out and were not as good as those that came from the chilled balls.

Recipe by:

Amy Bakes Bread

Yield:

16

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter, 113 grams

¾ cup dark brown sugar, 185 grams

¼ cup granulated sugar, 60 grams

½ cup sourdough discard, 100 grams

1 egg yolk from a large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1⅓ cups all-purpose flour, 175 grams

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chunks or chocolate chips

flaky sea salt if desired

Directions:

Amy Bakes Bread

1. Brown Butter: Heat the butter in a pan or pot on the stove over medium heat. Swirl the butter around and stir every few minutes until little brown flecks are on the bottom of the pan and the butter smells nutty and delicious. Be careful not to overheat as it can burn the butter. Pour the brown butter along with all the little brown bits on the bottom of the pan into a medium sized bowl and let sit for 5 minutes or up to a couple hours to cool.
2. Add the dark brown sugar and granulated sugar to the bowl with the brown butter. Use a hand mixer and mix to combine.
3. Mix in the egg yolk, sourdough discard and vanilla extract. Whip together with the mixer until the batter is cohesive and turns light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
4. To a small bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and fluff together. Pour the flour mixture into the cookie mixture and mix together until just combined. Add chocolate chunks (or chips) and stir into the dough.
5. Place the whole bowl into the freezer and chill the dough for 10-15 minutes. It is possible to bake these cookies right away, but they will not be quite as puffy and will spread a lot more than the chilled dough. You can also chill the dough in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours or freeze the dough in small balls. Let the balls come back to “chilled” temperature before baking.
6. Heat oven to 375 degrees, convection. Scoop the dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place them onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, 12 cookies per baking sheet. Sprinkle the top with flaky sea salt, if desired.
7. Bake cookies at 375 degrees, convection for 7-8 minutes until cookies are puffed up and the edges are a little crispy. Let the cookies sit for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet to set up before removing. If your oven doesn’t have a convection setting, preheat oven for 20 minutes and bake cookies at 400 degrees for 8-9 minutes.