Ultimate Sourdough Blondies (with Chocolate Chips)
Introduction: Sourdough Blondies AKA Sourdough Cookie Bars
These sourdough blondies are a decadent and delicious way to use your sourdough discard. They are gooey, rich and perfectly sweet. The addition of chocolate chips enhances these discard blondies in taste and texture. They make a great treat to use for a holiday cookie exchange or a potluck at the office. You friends and family are sure to love these!
What Are Blondies?
Blondies are the sister of the classic brownie. They are made without cocoa powder and instead are flavored with brown sugar and vanilla. They also often contain add-ins like nuts or chocolate chips. In terms of taste and texture, blondies are like a combination of brownie and a chocolate chip cookie.
Best Pan for Sourdough Blondies
Metal pans work best for making blondies. If you use a glass or ceramic pan, it can take significantly longer to bake the blondies due to their thick material.
Sourdough Discard Blondies: Ingredients
Sourdough Discard
You need 1/3 cup of sourdough discard for this recipe. Although you don’t need to feed your starter before using it in this recipe, it will not harm the recipe if you do use active starter. These blondies are baked right away so there is not a lot of time for the sourdough starter to leaven the batter before it is baked.
Melted Butter
Melted butter is better for creating that gooey texture blondies are known for. If you don’t melt the butter and cream it instead (like you would with cookies) it creates a texture that is more cakey and less gooey.
Chocolate Chips
You can use any combination of chocolate chips that you like but I like semi-sweet for this recipe. They have a bold, chocolatey flavor and are not overly sweet.
Sugar
I used a combination of brown sugar and white granulated sugar in this recipe. Most blondie recipes use only brown sugar or a majority brown sugar to impart a rich flavor that mimics butterscotch.
Because I added sourdough discard, which adds moisture to the recipe, I used a small amount of granulated sugar and reduced the amount of brown sugar. Brown sugar contains more moisture than granulated sugar so I made this substitution to offset the moisture from the discard.
Eggs
Just one.
Vanilla Extract
Dry Ingredients
- Flour
- Baking Powder
- Salt
How to Make Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Blondies
Preheat the Oven
First, preheat the oven to 375oF. I’ve found that using a slightly higher baking temperature works better for sourdough discard recipes. Sourdough discard adds moisture to the recipe so the higher temperature works better here.
Prep the Pan
Spray an 8×8 inch baking pan with cooking spray, then line it with parchment paper and spray it again. Spraying the pan before lining it helps keep the parchment paper in place.
Whisk Together the Dry Ingredients
In a small mixing, combine all the dry ingredients so they are ready to be added later.
Melt the Butter
This is best done in a microwave safe mixing bowl that you will use to make the rest of the batter. Melting the butter directly in the bowl ensures you don’t lose any of the butter when transferring it to another bowl.
Add the Remaining Ingredients to the Bowl with Melted Butter
You want to add in the ingredients in the following order:
- Whisk in the sugars until combined (they won’t fully dissolve)
- Add the egg, sourdough discard, and the vanilla extract
- Add the dry ingredients
- Mix in the chocolate chips
Can you Freeze the Sourdough Blondie Batter?
I have not tested this recipe with freezing the batter so I don’t recommend it.
Pour Batter into Prepared Pan
Use a rubber spatula to spread the batter in the pan and smooth it out.
Bake the Sourdough Blondies
You blondies will be ready in 30-35 minutes for most ovens, but baking times can vary.
How Do I Know When My Sourdough Blondies are Done?
With blondies, the ideal texture is soft, chewy, and slightly gooey. You don’t want your blondies to taste dry or cakey. To avoid this you should err on the side of under-baked. The blondies will appear golden with a shiny, cracked, thin surface layer and the edges will be firm and slightly golden. If you give the pan a small shake, they should not jiggle much.
If you are one to use the toothpick test, the toothpick might not come out completely clean, but there should not be a full swipe of raw batter when you pull it out.
Substitutions and Variations
There are several delicious variations you can make to these cookies:
- Add 1/2 cup chopped nuts (pecans work best)
- Use a combination of semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate chips
- Use a chopped dark chocolate bar instead of chocolate chips
- Make them vegan by using a vegan butter and egg replacer
How to Store Sourdough Discard Blondies
Blondies should be soft and chewy, so it is important that they don’t get dried out.
For best results, store the blondies in an airtight container in a cool area. I really like my blondies cold so I store them in the refrigerator. Refrigerating your blondies also keeps them fresh for longer.
Ideally, these blondies should be eaten within four days, up to one week.
If you loved these blondies, check out these other discard recipes:
Pumpkin Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Best Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ultimate Sourdough Blondies (with Chocolate Chips)
Equipment
- 1 Medium Mixing Bowl
- 1 Small mixing bowl
- 1 8×8 inch metal baking pan
- 1 Rubber Spatula
- 1 whisk or fork
- 1 sheet of parchment paper
- Cookie Spray
- Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup All-purpose flour
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 12 tbsp Unsalted butter 1½ sticks
- 1¼ cup Light brown sugar
- ¼ cup Granulated sugar
- 1 Egg
- ⅓ cup Sourdough Discard
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375℉
- Spray an 8×8 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment so that the long ends are sticking up from the edge of the pan (see photo). Spray the parchment paper with a light coat of cooking spray.
- Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium sized, microwave-safe mixing bowl, melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. If it is not completely melted, continue to microwave at 10 second intervals, stirring between intervals, until just melted.
- Whisk in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined. Add the vanilla, sourdough discard, and the egg. Continue to mix until well-combined.
- Slowly, stir in the dry ingredients until just combined and no dry flour clumps remain.
- Stir in the chocolate chips until just combined.
- Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula.
- Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. When done, the surface will be shiny and the edges should be firm and slightly golden. Give the pan a quick gentle shake. The blondies should not move much when they are done.
- Allow to cool in pan to allow the blondies to set, around 30 minutes.
- Use the long ends of the parchment paper to carefully remove the uncut blondies. Transfer to a cutting board and use a large, sharp knife to cut the blondies into 9 even squares.
I love putting sourdough in everything. I’ll have to try these out for the next time we have company.
These look tasty! They would be great for Easter weekend.