Sourdough Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
These Sourdough Chocolate Shortbread Cookies use sourdough discard to create a rich chocolate cookie that crumbles and melts in your mouth. I add a little espresso powder and dark chocolate for a decadent cookie that’s incredibly easy to make.
If you love shortbread cookies as much as I do, be sure to check out some of my other favorites like my Kamut Flour Shortbread Cookies, Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies With Sourdough Discard, or Olive Oil Shortbread Cookies.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Sourdough Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
- Ready In: 4 hours 39 minutes
- Makes: 28 cookies
- Main Ingredients: salted butter, powdered sugar, sourdough discard, Dutch cocoa powder
- Flavor Profile: rich chocolate with a tangy twist
- Dietary Info: eggless, no seed oils
- Difficulty: Easy!
- Why You’ll Love It: decadent, buttery chocolate shortbread with rich chocolate
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Best Texture: You will love these Sourdough Chocolate Shortbread Cookies because they have the absolute best crumb. Their texture is a dense crumb that melts in your mouth as soon as you bite in, giving you all that buttery goodness that shortbreads hold.
- Chocolate AF: These easy shortbread cookies are rich, chocolatey, with a hint of espresso powder. The espresso powder really brings out the chocolate. I top these with even more dark chocolate dips or drizzles, whichever you prefer. Or you can even do a mixture of both, like I did. These are surely a cookie for the chocolate lover!
- More Flavor: I use sourdough discard to give them a little more depth of flavor that just makes you wonder what that little extra something is. I top these easy shortbread cookies with a dusting of cane sugar when they come out of the oven. And then I dip or drizzle these cookies with a little bit of dark chocolate, but this part is totally optional!
- Eggless: These shortbread cookies are egg free, so perfect if you have people with allergies or just run out of eggs.
Jump to:
This recipe is another collab with my friend Hannah, at Make It Dough. I love our fun baking collaborations as we bring you even more thoughtfully tested recipes from two perspectives.
Some of our other collaboration recipes include Eggless Red Velvet Sourdough Cake Balls, Lemon Rosemary Sourdough Bread, Small Batch Chocolate Cake With Sourdough Discard, and Cranberry Orange Biscotti with Sourdough Discard.
Ingredients
- Butter: I use organic salted butter. You can use unsalted butter if you prefer, just add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the dough. Just be sure to use a high quality butter for the best flavor and texture, read more about that in Best Salted Butter for Baking.
- Powdered Sugar: I use organic powdered sugar in these shortbreads. I love using powdered sugar in shortbreads as it gives shortbreads a light and tender crumb.
- Espresso Powder: Adding a little organic espresso powder will give these cookies more depth of flavor.
- Sourdough Discard: You can use your sourdough discard straight from the fridge, you do not need an active sourdough starter for these sourdough shortbread cookies. I love sourdough discard recipes like that as they turn waste (excess sourdough starter) into delicious cookies!
- Dark Chocolate: I use organic dark chocolate chips to half dip and drizzle chocolate on top of these cookies. This gives them an extra richness that chocolate lovers will appreciate!
*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Baker's Tips
- Always weigh ingredients for the best results.
- I use a stand mixer, but you can also make these by hand if you prefer.
- These cookies need to chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. The chilling helps cookie spread and also helps create a delicate and tender crumb.
- Dipping or drizzling in chocolate is optional, but it makes them incredibly decadent! Feel free to skip if you prefer.
- If you want to add nuts, add in 85 grams of chopped almonds, walnuts, or pecans (all are a delicious pairing with the chocolate!).
- Make sure to store shortbread cookies in a cool, dry place.
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 22 to 24 minutes, until set and dry.
How to Make Sourdough Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.
- Mix on low speed until combined and there are no butter chunks.
- Add the flour, cocoa powder, discard, and espresso powder.
- Mix on low until a stiff dough forms.
- On a large piece of plastic wrap, turn out dough and form into a log that is about 14-inches long.
- Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the fridge and using a sharp knife slice the cookies into 28 cookies that are about ¼-inch thick.
- Place on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 24 to 26 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and bottom. Sprinkle with cane sugar immediately after coming out of the oven. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheets. (If you're baking at high altitude, be sure to check the Notes at the bottom of the recipe for high altitude instructions).
- Using a double boiler, melt the dark chocolate.
- Half dip the cookies or drizzle chocolate on top.
Sourdough Chocolate Shortbread Cookies FAQ's
No, it just gives them a really nice tangy flavor that balances with the rich chocolate so well! If you are a baker who love to bake cookies that have that little extra umami flavor that makes people wonder why they are so good, you will love this recipe!
If you don't have sourdough discard, don't worry, you can still make this recipe! Just mix together 1 part water and 1 part all purpose flour to replace the sourdough discard. So, for this recipe, you can use 21 grams water and 21 grams all purpose flour. You won't get the flavor of sourdough, but these will still be delicious chocolate cookies!
This enhances the chocolate flavor and gives these so much more depth. They are still chocolatey, but have a bit more flavor to them which makes them so good!
Yes, if you're baking for kids, feel free to leave that out.
You can here, but I don't recommend it. Natural cocoa powder is much more bitter than Dutch cocoa powder so I don't think the flavor will be as good.
Chilling the shortbread cookie dough allows the butter to solidify, which helps with cookie spread. It also helps create an incredibly tender, crumbly, melt in your mouth cookie experience. Do not skip this step, it's super important for the texture of these cookies. You can also let the dough chill overnight if you prefer too.
Ensure the dough is formed into a log well. If the dough is not wrapped tightly and there are air pockets in the dough, it will crumble as you slice it. Watch the video for my top trick for getting the dough wrapped tight in the plastic wrap. Then be sure to use a sharp knife to slice for clean cuts.
Incorrect measuring, too much dry ingredients so the ratio of butter to flour is off. Watch the video for how the cookie dough should look for reference. And, be sure to use a digital food scale so you get accurate measurements and perfect cookies.
With chocolate cookies it can be more difficult to tell because of the dark color. Look for signs that the edges are dry and the middle is set. We want these to be crispy so baking an extra minute or two (so long as they are not burning) is totally fine. You can also do a test cookie if you like!
Yes! If you'd like to use milk chocolate or white chocolate, both of these would be delicious!
Yes, you can freeze the wrapped cookie dough log for up to 3 months. Transfer it from the freezer to the refrigerator when you want to bake off the cookies. Then, just slice them from the fridge and bake as instructed. This is a great recipe to make in advance like this for Christmas cookies or a celebration!
Shortbread cookies are buttery, crisp, and sweet, so they are best stored in a cool dry place, like the pantry. This usually just means out in the open air, so in an old fashioned cookie jar (not airtight) or just on a platter on your counter at room temperature. But if you don't temper the chocolate, then storing in an airtight container in the fridge is best so the chocolate doesn't sweat. You can also freeze the baked cookies for up to 3 months.
More Creative Ways to Use Sourdough Discard
Using up sourdough discard is a great way to reduce waste while infusing a tangy sourdough discard flavor into other recipes with ease! Try some of my other favorite ways to use up sourdough discard.
- Try Sourdough Blueberry Crumb Bars for a fruity bar with fresh or frozen blueberries.
- Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of my favorite soft and chewy cookies!
- Try Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies With Sourdough Discard or Eggless Sourdough Molasses Cookies for more eggless sourdough cookies.
- Indulge in Baked Chai Donuts with Sourdough Discard for a cozy morning treat.
- If you have any kind of jam, you can make Sourdough Jam Thumbprint Cookies as it's a great blank canvas recipe to make your own!
- Try Sourdough Discard Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread for a quick and easy homemade bread recipe that's perfect for toast and sandwiches!
- Make Sourdough Pretzel Buns or Homemade Sourdough Hot Dog Buns for burgers and dogs.
More Chocolate Cookie Recipes
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Sourdough Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Stand Mixer
- Half Sheet Pan
- Parchment Paper Sheets
Ingredients
Dough
- 226 grams salted butter (softened)
- 142 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 255 grams all purpose flour
- 43 grams Dutch cocoa powder (sifted)
- 43 grams sourdough discard
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder
Topping
- 2 tablespoons cane sugar
- 226 grams dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed until combined and there are no butter chunks.
- Add the flour, cocoa powder, discard, and espresso powder. Mix on low until a stiff dough forms.
- On a large piece of plastic wrap, turn out dough and form into a log that is about 14-inches long. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and using a sharp knife slice the cookies into 28 cookies that are about ¼-inch thick.
- Bake for 24 to 26 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and bottom. Sprinkle with cane sugar immediately after coming out of the oven. Allow to cool completely on the baking sheets.
- Using a double boiler, melt the dark chocolate. Half dip the cookies or drizzle chocolate on top.
- Store in a cool dry place for up to 5 days or in an airtight container in the fridge.
Video
Notes
- Always weigh ingredients for the best results.
- I use a stand mixer, but you can also make these by hand if you prefer.
- These cookies need to chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. The chilling helps cookie spread and also helps create a delicate and tender crumb.
- Dipping or drizzling in chocolate is optional, but it makes them incredibly decadent! Feel free to skip if you prefer.
- If you want to add nuts, add in 85 grams of chopped almonds, walnuts, or pecans (all are a delicious pairing with the chocolate!).
- Make sure to store shortbread cookies in a cool, dry place.
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 22 to 24 minutes, until set and dry.
Nutrition
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Love making these cookies with sourdough discard!