Sourdough Discard Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Bakery-style sourdough discard cookies with crisp edges and a chewy, gooey middle, built on nutty brown butter and loaded with pools of melted chocolate chunks. No mixer required, mixed by hand in about 10 minutes.

Ingredients

• 113g unsalted butter (browned or melted)
• 185g brown sugar (dark or light)
• 60g granulated sugar
• 100g sourdough discard
• 1 large egg yolk
• 4g (1 teaspoon) vanilla extract
• 175g all-purpose flour
• 3g (1/2 teaspoon) baking soda
• 3g (1/2 teaspoon) baking powder
• 4g (1/2 teaspoon) salt
• 175g chocolate chunks or chips
• Flaky sea salt, for finishing (optional)

Directions

Key ingredients

Baking Soda & Baking Powder · Salt · Vanilla Extract

1. Brown the butter in a medium pan over medium heat, stirring every minute until it smells nutty and brown flecks appear. Remove from the heat immediately, pour into a bowl, and let cool briefly.
2. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar to the butter and mix well.
3. Stir in the sourdough discard until combined, then mix in the egg yolk and vanilla until smooth.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to the wet mixture and stir until just combined.
5. Fold in the chocolate chunks or chips until evenly distributed through the dough.
6. Scoop the dough into balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
7. Chill the dough balls for 30 minutes to 1 hour in the refrigerator (or 15-20 minutes in the freezer).
8. Preheat the oven to 375°F on convection (or 400°F without convection).
9. Bake 12 cookies per sheet for 7-8 minutes, until the edges are crispy and the centers are puffed.
10. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired. Cool the cookies on the sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a rack.

Notes

Browning the butter is what gives these their deep, butterscotch-y flavor: cook it until it smells nutty and brown flecks form, then pull it off the heat right away so it doesn’t burn. Melted (un-browned) butter can be substituted in a pinch. This recipe uses sourdough DISCARD, not active starter; fresh/young discard gives a milder flavor while older discard adds more tang. Chilling the scooped dough (30 min to 1 hour, or 15-20 min in the freezer) keeps the cookies from spreading too much and improves texture; the dough can be refrigerated up to 72 hours or frozen up to 3 months. Convection baking yields crispy edges with gooey centers. For perfectly round cookies, swirl a biscuit cutter or glass around each one right after it comes out of the oven. Finish with flaky sea salt for contrast. Adapted faithfully from Amy Coyne at Amy Bakes Bread.