Back to the recipe

Overnight Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Kuelbs familyPrep 25 minCook 13 minServes 19

A mix-tonight, bake-in-the-morning cookie: about 25 minutes of work, an overnight rest in the fridge, then straight from cold into the oven. The starter stands in for some of the flour and water and leaves a faint tang that keeps the dark chocolate from reading as sweet.

Ingredients

  • 227 g unsalted butter, 2 sticks, to be browned
  • 15 g cold water, 1 tbsp, whisked back into the browned butter
  • 200 g dark brown sugar
  • 100 g granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk, extra yolk; save the white for something else
  • 10 g vanilla extract, 2 tsp
  • 125 g active sourdough starter, 100% hydration, fed 4 to 8 hours earlier
  • 310 g all-purpose flour
  • 3.5 g baking soda, 3/4 tsp
  • 3 g baking powder, 3/4 tsp
  • 4 g fine sea salt, about 3/4 tsp
  • 250 g dark chocolate chips, 60 to 70% cacao
  • flaky sea salt, for finishing

Steps

  1. Brown the butter in a light-coloured pan over medium heat. It will foam, go quiet, then throw brown flecks and smell nutty — take it off the heat the moment that happens.
  2. Scrape the butter and every one of the browned flecks into a large bowl, then whisk in the cold water to replace what cooked off. Let it cool until barely warm to the touch, about 15 minutes.
  3. Whisk in both sugars and keep whisking for a full minute.
  4. Add the egg, the extra yolk and the vanilla. Whisk another 30 seconds, until the mixture turns glossy and thickens slightly.
  5. Whisk in the sourdough starter until completely smooth. It should look like a loose caramel batter.
  6. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and fine salt. Switch to a spatula and fold until barely combined — a few dry streaks left is correct.
  7. Fold in the chocolate chips. The last dry streaks will disappear as you do.
  8. Scoop the dough now, before it chills: 19 balls of about 65 g onto a parchment-lined sheet, close together is fine. Cold dough is miserable to portion, and this step is the difference between a pleasant morning and a fight.
  9. Cover tightly and refrigerate 12 to 16 hours. Do not leave the dough out on the counter overnight — there are raw eggs in it, and a live starter will over-ferment at room temperature.
  10. Heat the oven to 375°F. Bake straight from the fridge, six to a sheet, for 11 to 13 minutes, until the edges are set and browned but the centres still look slightly underdone and puffed.
  11. Scatter flaky salt over the tops the moment they come out, while the surface is still molten.
  12. Rest them on the sheet for 10 minutes. They finish setting there, and the centres fall into the chewy fold that makes them worth the wait.