Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookie BAKE OFF

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Last Updated: July 9, 2024

Welcome to my sourdough chocolate chip cookie throw down.

What did I do with scads of sourdough discard piling up in my fridge? Why, bake up multiple batches of sourdough discard chocolate chip cookies to see which ones are the best, of course.

The first step was to pick the recipes. I wanted ones that seemed to be popular, but most importantly, recipes with varied approaches. The first time I ever made sourdough discard chocolate chip cookies was a recipe by the Boy Who Bakes. That recipe involved browning butter and using only egg yolks, which may seem fussy for chocolate chip cookies, but there are valid reasons behind it.

Can’t you just throw some sourdough discard in your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and call it a day?

Well, yes. And no.

When it comes to sourdough discard, it works very well in quick breads, pancakes, muffins, etc. It starts to change things up noticeably, though, when added to things like cookies. This is because cookies have a very low moisture content compared to cakes or muffins. If you add water or liquids to a cookie, they’ll turn cake-y. Sourdough discard is often half water. This poses a problem for cookies. This can be offset by eliminating water elsewhere in the recipe to make up for it. Egg whites contain water, so the first step is to use just egg yolks. Secondly, by browning the butter, you evaporate the water content in butter.

When I learned this, it all started to make so much sense why you can’t just toss some discard in your cookie dough if you want the same beloved, chewy texture. There is a science-y reason for it! Yet…why are there so many recipes for sourdough discard chocolate chip cookies that call for only one or neither of these things? Does that mean it’s not necessary to do the extra work? Is the science not science-ing?

Well, I was here to find out!

I decided to make 3 new sourdough discard recipes, combined with 2 more I tried at different times, for a total of 5 contenders.

Each recipe has different elements so you can see how they affect the final product. I found it fascinating and hopefully the results will help you decide which sourdough chocolate chip cookie recipe will be your new go-to!

About this Bake Off

  • The 3 principal recipes in this bake off were all made on the same day with the same ingredients and baked in the same oven. Recipe 4 was made in Italy with Italian ingredients, so that would be the most different. However, being so similar in nature to recipe 2, I felt it was still worthwhile to include it. Recipe 5 was made shortly after but not on the same day as the 3 principal recipes.

  • All 5 recipes were followed as precisely as possible, without making any adjustments, even based on best judgement. For example, 2 recipes I would have normally added more flour, but I resisted to keep this bake off as true as possible.

  • All recipes requiring refrigeration were chilled overnight, even if one recipe’s minimum chill time was 2 hours, it still got an overnight chill.

  • All ingredients in these recipes were weighed for maximum consistency.

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Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake Off

Cookie #1 Little Spoon Farm

This recipe was the closest to a traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe, calling for regular butter and a whole egg.

Raw dough: Gooey, had a “pull” to it, rather like a stiffer bread dough, where you can see and feel the gluten build up in the dough. This dough had the most pronounced “sourdough” taste to it.

Baked: Had a pockmarked appearance, and a texture again that made one think of bread. But it was not “bready” per se, nor was it cake-y. It still had a nice chew to it, it just wasn’t as dense as a classic chocolate chip cookie. Overall a very tasty cookie, and the sourdough taste was lessened with baking.

Cookie #2 Sugar Spun Run

This recipe was the most tedious to make, because it not only required browning and cooling the butter, but also called for just egg yolks.

Raw dough: almost identical to classic chocolate chip cookie dough in texture, with a lovely nuttiness from the browned butter. The browned butter also did a good job of balancing out the sourdough taste.

Baked cookie: nice bake, not too flat, not to tall. Chewy, delicious, and still very similar to a classic chocolate chip cookie. Minimal sourdough taste.

Cookie #3 King Arthur

This recipe was a hybrid of the two recipes above, using browned butter yet a whole egg.

Raw dough: very soft; too soft. I knew it would need more flour but decided to make the recipe exactly as written for testing purposes. Delicious, again with browned butter the nuttiness really mellowed out the sourdough taste. Had it been a bit firmer it probably would’ve been similar to cookie #1 in texture with that slight glutinous “pull.”

Baked cookie: too much spread, too flat and soft. Definitely the most chocolatey. Tricky to get off the tray (should have used a silicone baking mat or parchment paper).

Cookie #4 The Boy Who Bakes

This is the first sourdough discard chocolate chip cookie recipe I ever made. I could really get behind his method, and how he thoroughly and clearly explained how he arrived at the recipe. Science. It made sense to me. I didn’t include this recipe in with my 3 cookie bake-off since I had 1) already made these 2) was looking to try all new ones, and 3) Sugar Spun Run’s was already similar.

This recipe is very similar to Sugar Spun Run in that it calls for browned butter and only egg yolks.

Raw Dough: Sticky, I should’ve known it would need more flour despite the chilling, but other than that pretty similar to standard chocolate chip cookie dough, with that wonderful nutty flavor from the browned butter pairing with the subtle tang from the discard.

Baked Cookie: Yes, they were delicious. Similar to King Arthur’s recipe, for test results in my kitchen, I would have adjusted the recipe to include more flour the next time, as the cookies came out very thin and flat.

Cookie #5 My mom’s chocolate chip cookies

My mom always uses oil in her cookies. Oil (certain kinds, anyway) is often seen as a healthier alternative to butter, especially for those who avoid dairy or cholesterol.

None of the other 4 cookies I tried included oil in the recipe, so I decided to try my mom’s recipe with sourdough discard, and used whole eggs.

Raw Dough: Stickier and with more of, again, that glutinous “pull” than is usual for cookie dough. Tasted wonderful, faint tang from the discard.

Baked Cookie: These turned out closest to Little Spoon Farm, which used regular butter and whole eggs; a delicious chocolate chip cookie with a just a bit more volume, hint of chew, hint of breadiness.

These were by far the easiest and least fussy. No need to separate of eggs, no need to brown then cool butter, no need to cream the butter, no need to chill the dough. Easy.

Conclusion:

All of these recipes are valid and yielded delicious cookies. Boy Who Bakes and King Arthur both would need more flour, based on my results, but this could also be dependent on my preference of cookies as well as the state of discard starter and various other possible factors.

At the end of the day, there are two recipes I would be most likely to return to.

For absolute best taste and texture, #2 Sugar Spun Run was the stand out, followed closely by the #4 Boy Who Bakes.

For quickest cookies to whip up in a pinch, #5 my mom’s recipe wins for easiest and fastest.