Long Fermented Brown Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

If you’re not in a rush and want to take the time for a longer fermentation period, this brown butter sourdough chocolate chip cookies recipe is for you! These cookies are deliciously chewy and well-balanced with notes of nutty brown butter, caramel, vanilla, tangy sourdough, and gooey puddles of chocolate.

What Makes This Recipe Unique

• Long fermentation. There are a ton of quick cookie recipes that use sourdough discard and don’t require a fermentation period. I developed this recipe with a longer ferment to get the health benefits of sourdough in a cookie (because why not?), and also for the tanginess it provides, which helps create a really lovely, nuanced flavor profile.
• Complex, well-balanced flavor. This is no ordinary chocolate chip cookie! Brown butter lends rich notes of caramel and toasted nuts. Sourdough adds tangy flavor and chewy texture. Brown sugar and vanilla create the classic sweet, aromatic flavor profile we love about iconic chocolate chip cookies. And chopped chocolate from a good quality chocolate bar creates luscious chocolate puddles.
• These stay fresher for longer. I haven’t researched the science behind it, but I’ve been experimenting with baking sourdough cookies for the past two years. During that time, I’ve noticed that sourdough cookies stay fresher for longer than regular cookies. (If you know scientifically why this is, please share in the comments below!)

Ingredients

Instructions

1: Brown the Butter

1. Add the butter to a small skillet over medium heat.
2. Once melted, adjust the heat down to medium-low.
3. Let it cook until it butter is light golden brown and smells nutty, about 3 to 4 minutes.

2: Make the Dough, Let it Chill (Cold Ferment), and Bake

1. Immediately pour the hot butter into a bowl (scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the skillet), and stir in the brown sugar until well-combined (it’ll look like wet sand).
2. Stir in the egg yolk and vanilla extract, and then stir in the sourdough discard.
3. Stir in the flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 12 hours for the best flavor.
4. Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chopped chocolate right before you want to bake the cookies. (TIP: I find the easiest way to incorporate these ingredients into the cold dough is by hand. I put on food safe gloves and knead in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and then gently fold in the chocolate.)
5. Preheat the oven to 350F. If you want easy cleanup, you can line 2 large baking trays with parchment paper. Portion the dough into 16 equal portions (about 2 tablespoons each). Roll the dough into balls, arrange them on the baking trays, and top each with a sprinkle of flaky salt.
6. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, rotating once halfway through. After 12 minutes, remove the trays from the oven and carefully tap each 4 times on a hard surface. Return the trays to the oven and continue baking until the cookies are golden along the outside and on the bottom, and are puffed in the center (about 2 to 4 minutes more). Remove the cookie trays from the oven and carefully tap each 2 times on a hard surface. Let the cookies cool before using a thin metal spatula to remove them.

Storage

Store in an airtight glass container at room temperature for up to 1 week. Or layer the cookies between pieces of parchment paper in an airtight glass container and freeze for up to 3 months.

Variations

• Chocolate chips – For more traditional chocolate chip cookies, opt for chocolate chips instead of a chopped chocolate bar. Use semisweet chocolate chips for classic flavor, or switch it up and go for dark chocolate, milk chocolate, or even white chocolate!
• Nuts – I am a huge fan of nuts in my chocolate chip cookies (especially walnuts), but sometimes I just want them nut-free. Depending on what you’re in the mood for, feel free to add up to 3/4 cup of your favorite chopped nuts, such as walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, etc. to this recipe.
• Dried fruit – You can add up to 3/4 cup of any kind of dried fruit you like, such as raisins, cherries, apricots, figs, blueberries, you name it! Just make sure it’s chopped into small (raisin-sized) pieces if you’re using something bigger like dried apricots.

Frequently Asked Questions

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