Brown Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies laid out on parchment paper and sprinkled with flakey sea salt. Sitting next to a pinch bowl of flakey sea salt and a glass of milk.

4.67 from 9 votes

Brown Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sourdough chocolate chip cookies are pure perfection! They're easy to make, with a soft, chewy center, golden-brown edges, and a rich, nutty, caramel-like depth from brown butter and dark brown sugar. Sourdough discard adds tenderness and flavor, while two types of chocolate create the ultimate indulgence. Each bite is the perfect balance of crisp, gooey, and decadent.

Prep Time30

Cook Time10

Chilling Time1

Total Time1 40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: cookies

Calories: 221kcal

Author: Rachel Kochlin

Ingredients

227 grams salted butter 1 cup
224 grams dark brown sugar 1 packed cup
100 grams granulated sugar ½ cup
1 egg about 50 grams
1 egg yolk about 15 grams
125 grams sourdough discard ½ cup
15 grams vanilla extract 1 tablespoon
285 grams all-purpose flour about 2 ¼ cups
1 teaspoon baking soda about 8 grams
¾ teaspoon salt about 6 grams
113 grams semi-sweet chocolate bar chopped (4 oz or ¾ cup)
113 grams milk chocolate bar chopped (4 oz or ¾ cup)
Flakey sea salt for finishing, optional

Instructions

Start by browning the butter. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, and continue heating the butter, stirring frequently for about 7-10 minutes. As the butter cooks, it will start to bubble and foam. Continue cooking and stirring until the butter turns golden brown with little browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl - you should have about 185-190 grams of brown butter. Make sure you get all those browned bits! Place in the freezer to cool to the touch for about 10-15 minutes.
Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cooled brown butter to a large bowl. Whisk for a minute until fluffy and lighter in color. Add in the egg, egg yolk, sourdough discard, and vanilla. Whisk for another minute until well combined.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture and chopped chocolate to the bowl with the wet ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do not overmix.
Scoop the dough into 3 tablespoon-size balls (I like using a cookie scoop), cover, and refrigerate overnight or at least 2 hours. Alternatively, you can refrigerate the dough, then scoop right before baking.
Note: Chilling the dough allows the flour to fully hydrate, the butter to solidify, and the flavors to come together. If you bake room-temperature dough, the cookies will spread too much.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place the dough balls on the parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them 2-3 inches apart. If desired, you can add a few pieces of chopped chocolate to the tops of each cookie.
Bake for 10-11 minutes until the edges are lightly golden and the centers still look gooey and pale. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with flakey sea salt. Let the cookies rest for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Notes

*You can refrigerate the dough up to 36 hours.

Helpful Tips

Don't over bake the cookies! Remove cookies from oven when they still look under baked! The centers will look pale, gooey and puffy and the edges will be lightly golden brown. As the cookies rest outside of the oven, they will continue to firm up and cook from residual heat.
Scooping cold dough: Cold dough can be a little tricky to scoop and squeeze out of a cookie scoop - it takes a little patience. After I scoop the dough, I use my hands/fingers to pack the dough in the scoop and flatten it out. If you have room in your fridge, you can scoop and portion the door BEFORE chilling in the fridge. Keep covered with plastic wrap until you're ready to bake.
For perfectly round cookies with crinkly edges: Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, grab a mug with a large opening and place it upside down over each cookie and gently move it in a circular motion to shape the cookie. Another option is to use a fork to gently reshape the edges of each cookie into a circle.

Substitutions and variations

Chocolate: When it comes to chocolate chip cookies, I actually prefer to chop up chocolate bars because they melt more smoothly into cookies creating little pockets of gooey decadent chocolate, but you can certainly chocolate chips if that's what you have on hand! Chocolate chips are typically made with emulsifiers so they hold their shape and don't melt as well, which will actually create a thicker cookie.
Mix-ins: Feel free to experiment with adding ½ cup of chopped nuts, (pecans or pistachios would be great), toasted coconut, chopped pretzel twists, or toffee bits! If you add anymore than ½ cup, I would reduce the amount of chocolate so you're not overstuffing the cookie dough.

Storing and freezing

Room temperature: Store cookies in an airtight bag or container at room temperature for up to one week.
Freezing baked cookies: Cool completely then transfer to a freezer-safe bag or airtight container and freeze up to 3 months.
Freezing cookie dough:
1. Once the dough has chilled in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and firmed up enough to scoop, portion the dough balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet or plate. Transfer to the freezer to flash freeze for 30 minutes.
2. Place the dough balls in a freezer-safe bag or air-tight container. Freeze up to 3 months.
3. When you're ready, remove as many dough balls as you would like from the freezer and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Let them warm up a bit while you preheat the oven, then bake as directed in the recipe card - you'll just need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time. Alternatively, let the dough balls thaw in the fridge overnight (keep them covered) and bake according to the original directions.

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