Sourdough Crinkle Cookies

Sourdough crinkle cookies are a tangy fermented take on the classic Christmas treat. These soft cookies have a rich chocolate flavor with a soft and fudgy center, reminiscent of a brownie. The real star of these easy cookies is their beautiful white exterior that when baked, reveals the contrasting chocolatey brown center. 

How to Use Sourdough Starter 

Sourdough discard recipes are a popular subset of sourdough recipes. These recipes utilize leftover sourdough starter. This prevents waste during the maintenance of your starter, and provides some of the benefits of fermentation in baked goods. 

You can use either active sourdough starter or unfed sourdough starter discard straight from your fridge. Active starter will have a less sour flavor compared to sourdough discard that has been fermenting for a longer period of time in the fridge. Either option works great in this recipe. It is just a matter of your personal preferences and what you have available. 

Why You Will Love This Recipe

These sourdough chocolate cookies are a chocolate lovers dream. They are visually appealing, and taste even better when you bite into their rich chocolatey center. There is no need to mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. The dough is mixed up in one bowl and can ferment in the fridge for several days before baking. 

Sourdough works so well in cookies. If you need any further convincing, check out some of my other sourdough cookie recipes: sourdough ginger molasses cookies (which are actually a type of sourdough gingerbread crinkle cookies), my sourdough snickerdoodles, sourdough chocolate chip cookies and my sourdough maple pecan cookies. 

Special Equipment Needed for This Recipe

All you need for this recipe is some basic kitchen tools:

• Mixing bowls: You only need one large bowl and a smaller separate bowl to put the powdered sugar in. You can also mix the dough in your stand mixer set to medium speed with the paddle attachment.
• Rubber spatula or wooden spoon
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Baking tray
• Parchment Paper
• Wire cooling rack 

Ingredients and Substitutions

Cocoa powder: Make sure your cocoa powder is dutch processed cocoa powder. This type of cocoa powder is richer in flavor and has a more vibrant color compared to natural cacao powder. 

Flour: This recipe uses regular all purpose flour but you can also use bread flour. The resulting cookies will be slightly denser and chewier. 

Sourdough Starter: Make sure your sourdough starter is 100% hydration. This means that it has been fed equal parts flour and water by weight. 

Butter: Use unsalted butter for this recipe. If you only have salted butter, reduce the salt in the recipe by 1/2 teaspoon.

Eggs: Sourdough recipes often call for only egg yolks. This can help reduce moisture in the recipe which is needed in sourdough recipes. Personally, I really don’t like having a random egg white floating around my fridge that I will forget to use. I try to create recipes that contain the whole egg. This recipe does just that. 

Sugar: This recipe uses granulated sugar and brown sugar. If you want your cookies a bit more moist, you can substitute all of the sugar for brown sugar. 

Vanilla: Vanilla extract is ideal for this recipe. You can use imitation vanilla if that is what you have on hand. 

Baking powder

Salt 

Powdered Sugar: We roll the cookie dough balls in powdered sugar just before baking. This is what creates that beautiful white crinkled appearance when baked. The sugar actually draws out moisture from the surface of the cookie dough balls. This causes them to crack while baking, revealing that beautiful rich chocolate brown interior.

How to Make Sourdough Crinkle Cookies

Step 1: Melt the butter.

Step 2: Stir in the sugars, vanilla and salt.

Step 3: Add the eggs, cocoa powder, baking powder and sourdough starter to the butter mixture.

Step 4: Stir in the flour until just combined.

Step 5: Roll the cookie dough balls with a spoon or cookie scoop.

Step 6: Roll in powdered sugar.

Step 7: Bake.

How to Make Ahead

You can keep let this cookie dough chill in the fridge for several days before baking. I have tested up to 4 days with great results. The longer you let it ferment in the fridge, the more tangy they will taste. 

If you want to make these weeks or months in advance, simply place the cookie dough balls in a gallon freezer safe bag in a single layer. Place the bag in the freezer and let them freeze completely before moving the bag and letting the dough balls stack on top of each other. 

When ready to bake, let the cookie dough balls defrost a bit in the fridge. (This allows them to get slightly sticky again so the powdered sugar will stick to them). Roll them in the powdered sugar and bake as directed in the recipe. 

How to Store 

For best results, I recommend storing these cookies at room temperature in a gallon zip loc bag, and airtight container, or on a plate wrapped in plastic wrap. These cookies are best consumed within 4 days but will last longer. They just will be a bit drier. If you have lots of extra cookies, you can freeze them in a gallon freezer bag for up to one month. 

Variations

You can add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to the recipe if you prefer some delicious chunks of chocolate. 

Add 1 teaspoon peppermint extract for sourdough chocolate peppermint crinkle cookies. 

What to Serve With Chocolate Sourdough Cookies

These  chocolatey chewy cookies go great with strong coffee or tea. They also pair well with hot chocolate for the kids (or adults!) 

I also love to serve these cookies with a side of berries like raspberries or strawberries. 

I hope you enjoyed these sourdough chocolate crinkle cookies. If you love sourdough discard recipes, check out these other popular sourdough recipes:

Orange Cranberry Sourdough Biscotti

Cranberry Orange Sourdough Muffins

Sourdough Fire Crackers