I love finding new things to do with my sourdough discard, and here's one of the most delicious I've come up with so far: these vegan Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies.
These are just the most incredible cookies. They are soft and chewy and they taste so good, you won't be able to keep your hand out of the cookie jar. Jay couldn't even keep his hands off the cookies while Desi was photographing them.
Using sourdough discard in cookies works wonderfully well because, well, you get to use it up and because it gives your cookie an aura of healthfulness that's usually not all that easy to achieve with a sugary baked good.
Besides, the sourdough does something magical to the flavor. It doesn't make the cookie sour, or add an overwhelming sourdough flavor, but it makes them better tasting by adding more depth and dimension.
I hope you'll try them and come back to tell me all about them.
I use all purpose flour for these cookies, but you can use whole wheat pastry flour if you have it, to make them healthier.
I also add some almond flour, which adds sweetness and nuttiness, but if you want to make these nut-free, just replace the almond flour with an equal quantity of all purpose flour.
You need a cup of sourdough starter for this recipe, and like I said it can be discard, but that means discard from a healthy starter fed at least a week ago.
This is a one-bowl recipe, so you can toss all the ingredients in and mix them up, reducing cleanup.
Keep in mind that this is a rather wet batter, wetter than typical cookie dough, so you can't just make neat mounds of batter with scoops on the baking sheet. You can use a scoop or a spoon to place the batter on the cookie sheet, at least two inches apart, because they will spread.
This recipe makes lots of cookies--about three dozen three-inch discs. You can definitely halve the recipe if you want to make fewer, but why would you?
-All purpose flour (you can make these with whole wheat pastry flour)
-Almond flour (optional, if nut-free. Use more all purpose instead)
-Sourdough starter (discard is fine)
-Baking flour
-Baking soda
-Salt
-Sugar
-Applesauce
-Vegetable oil
-Molasses (optional)
-Pure vanilla extract
-Vegan semisweet chocolate chips
Related recipes
Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Baking sheet(s)
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour (can use whole wheat pastry flour)
- 1 cup superfine almond flour (can sub with more all purpose or whole wheat pastry flour, but use if you can because it adds a nice nuttiness)
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sourdough starter (discard or unfed starter is fine)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp vegan cane sugar or turbinado sugar
- 1 tablespoon molasses (optional)
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups vegan semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a rack in the middle of the oven.
- Whisk together the flour, almond flour if using, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until there is no visible dry flour, but do not overmix.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 15 minutes up to a day. This will help the batter firm up a bit as well.
- Using a scoop or spoon or even your fingers, scoop out 1 ½-inch wide mounds of the cookie dough on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Give at least two inches between each cookie since they will spread.
- Bake the cookies, in batches if necessary, for 16 minutes at a time, or until the bottoms are lightly golden-brown. Let the cookies stand on the baking sheet on a rack for at least 20 minutes before using a thin spatula to slide them off the baking sheet and onto the rack to cook further. The cookies will firm up as they cool.
Bianca
This is so good, thanks for the recipe. 🤩
I replaced applesauce with banana and skipped the molasses, also cut the sugar by a third. I simply ground almonds with the skin on in the coffee grinder and used multigrain spelt flour as that was the one at home. The dough had a cookie dough consistency when mixed together (my sourdough wasn’t very moist) and I let it sit in the fridge for an hour. I baked them in the airfryer in small batches, for 14 minutes at 170C.
Vaishali
Awesome! Great to hear they work in the air fryer as well. Thanks for the tip, and the feedback!
Martina De Pascalis
I'm so confused, for some reason my cookies came out much drier and didn't flatten out or have that oily coat as per your image!
The only thing I changed was substituting the applesauce with some almond milk.
I read that the conversion tool didn't work - I used it but I am wondering if it converted the amounts correctly?
Vaishali
It's possible you used a starter with less hydration. Also the almond milk would not add the necessary moisture to make the cookies tender. I'll check on the conversion tool.
Melanie Drescher
Can I omit the oil in this recipe? We are eating whole food plant based but not using or eating any oil. I read this recipe, saw it had applesauce in it already, so I wasn't sure if I should add more to substitute for the oil or if I could omit the oil with no issues with how the cookies would turn out. Thank you for sharing your info. I have starter to feed this week, so hoping to make these cookies soon.
Vaishali
Check your sourdough hydration, which sounds like it's lower than mine --that would require more liquid. Always keep that in mind when making sourdough recipes.
Ellen
I love this recipe! Unique and tasty. The metric conversion button used to work for me though and it won't anymore.
Vaishali
So happy you made this. I'll dig into the metric conversion problem--someone else complained about the same thing yesterday. It works fine for me so may be a browser issue. Hopefully should be able to resolve it soon. Thanks for the feedback!
Kathy Lanka
Absolutely spectacular! I used coconut oil and substituted 1 cup gluten free baking flour for one of the cups of regular flour and the cookies came out perfect and did not crumble. Thank YOU!!!!!
Vaishali
So happy to hear, Kathy!
Carolyn Dabney
Yummy! I made my own almond flour by pouring boiling water over 4 ounces of raw almonds and letting them sit for 10 minutes. I then popped them out the their skins and put them in the dehydrator for 1 hour at 100 degrees and then ground them up in a blender. This made the perfect amount of almond flour. I did cut down on the sugar a little ( I cut out about 1/4 cup of sugar) but they didn't taste too sweet as I had feared. I guess the yeast consumed some of the sugars for me! These are a definite make again, thank you so much. I used white chocolate chips which were delicious in this cookie. They were light and fluffy, unlike traditional chocolate chip cookies which I find dense, flat and just plain greasy.
Vaishali
Hi Carolyn, wow, that's incredible and inspiring, that you made your own almond flour. The sourdough does need a bit more sugar, as you also have the tanginess to contend with. I am happy you loved them--I love their slightly cakey texture. 🙂
Ingrid
Can you convert recipe to grams, please? Not easy using imperial measure system when scaling down servings of cookies!
Thanks, Ingrid
Vaishali
Done! Click on "metric" in recipe box.
J Virag
These are fantastic....I keep making them. When I take some to work to share EVERYONE has really liked them and asked for more...when I tell them it's vegan the reactions are almost funny "Most of that stuff tastes like cardboard, this is great!" Thanks, I really like your blog
Vaishali
So happy to hear! 🙂
Gila Nehemia
Soo delicious! Posted on Instagram and shared your recipe!!! Love using sourdough starter/discard!!
Gila
Do we really need 3 cups of flour when you don't have almond flour? I'm struggling a but with this recipe...
Vaishali
The recipe makes 36 3-inch cookies. If you want to use less flour, you can always make fewer. Use the servings slider to adjust other ingredient proportions.
Colleen
Wonderful recipes except for all the fat! I try to experiment to make them no or almost no fat added.
Melanie Drescher
Did you omit the oil in this recipe? If so, how did the cookies turn out? We too are not using or eating any oil. I read this recipe, saw it had applesauce in it already, so I wasn't sure if I should add more to substitute for the oil or if I could omit the oil with no issues with how the cookies would turn out. Thank you for sharing your info.
Sam Visser
This is very delicious. Overall, this is a recipe I would definitely make again
Vaishali
Awesome! 🙂
Sherry Van Grootheest
Would this work with gf sourdough and gluten free flour 1:1? Have you tried it? Trying to find a gf sourdough chocolate chip recipe
Vaishali
It probably should, although I can't say for sure because I haven't tried it. You can substitute the flour with an equal measure of a gf all purpose flour mix.