Sourdough Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
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You're going to love these sourdough chocolate crinkle cookies with a rich chocolate flavor and crispy edges formed by the powdered sugar coating. These are the perfect sourdough discard cookies for any chocolate lovers!
Like all sourdough cookies, and in fact sourdough discard recipes, you can use either active sourdough starter or sourdough discard, which is handy because you're going to want to make a double batch of these!
If you love making sourdough cookies, check out this collection of sourdough discard cookie recipes - you'll find recipes for chewy sourdough chocolate chip cookies, sourdough thumbprint cookies, sourdough oatmeal cookies as well as these fermented sourdough pfeffernusse cookies.
Why You'll Love This Recipe!
Classic Crinkle Cookies - These classic chocolate crinkle cookies feature a crackly outer shell with a velvety soft centre. This recipe, of course, features a tangy sourdough twist that you'll just love!
Fermented Cookies - These soft chocolate crinkle cookies made with sourdough starter need to be refrigerated so that the dough can firm up. This fridge time gives your sourdough starter time to work its sourdough magic and ferment the dough. The cookie dough can stay in the fridge for up to 24 hours, just like these sourdough chocolate cookie sandwiches.
Perfect Cookies to Gift - these sourdough chocolate crinkle cookies make the perfect gift to bake and share! They feature in this guide of the best sourdough recipes to bake and gift at Christmas.
Tips for The Best Sourdough Chocolate Crinkle Cookies!
One of the best things about these cookies is that they are so easy to make! But, like any good recipe, there are always a few tips and tricks you'll need to employ to ensure you have a successful bake each and every time.
Chill the Dough - The dough must be chilled after mixing. This is even more important when using sourdough starter as it gives the starter time to ferment the dough. Chilled dough is much easier to roll into ball, and it helps the cookies maintain their shape and develop those iconic cracks during baking.
Use a Cookie Scoop - A good quality cookie scoop is essential for creating these cookies. The cold dough means that you'll need something very sturdy to scoop it up without bending. A cookie scoop also helps to keep the balls to a uniform size. My dough balls in this recipe are 30g each.
Roll in Granulated Sugar and Powdered Sugar - Before baking, roll the cookie dough balls generously in granulated sugar first, and then powdered sugar. I've experimented a lot with crinkle cookies and found that rolling chocolate crinkle cookies in granulated sugar first and then powdered sugar gave them to crackliest texture with the crispiest edges. This is different to these sourdough gingerbread crinkle cookies, which I only roll in powdered sugar.
Proper Spacing - Leave enough space between the sourdough cookie dough balls on the baking sheet. Typically, 2 inches of space should suffice. This allows the cookies to spread and crack without merging into one another.
Monitor Baking Time - Be vigilant about the baking time, as overbaking can lead to hard cookies. Bake just until the edges are set but the centers are still slightly soft. The residual heat will continue to cook the cookies after you remove them from the oven, so it's crucial not to overbake.
How To Make Sourdough Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Just like these sourdough gingerbread crinkle cookies, these sourdough chocolate crinkle cookies are absolutely delicious and so easy to make! Grab your kitchen scale and your sourdough starter and let's get baking!
Making the Cookie Dough
In a medium size bowl, cream butter and granulated sugar together until well combined (I've just used a whisk but you can use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment if you prefer).
Now add the egg and sourdough starter. Whisk together until the batter is light and fluffy.
Now, add the dry ingredients - baking soda, salt, unsweetened cocoa powder and all purpose flour and stir to create a thick cookie dough. The dough will be a bit wetter than a regular cookie dough. The cocoa powder can be a little hard to incorporate, but stick with it, it will come together.
Cover the bowl of cookie dough with a plastic food cover and place into the fridge for at least 2 hours. This dough can be left in the fridge overnight to ferment with no issues. Do not leave this cookie dough at room temperature to ferment as it will turn into a big, sticky mess. It must be refrigerated!
When You're Ready to Bake
Preheat the oven to 200C (390F). Prepare two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop out tablespoons of dough and roll them into perfect balls. Roll each ball first into the granulated sugar and then into the powdered sugar until they are completely coated and then place onto the prepared cookie sheet. You want to leave a space between each one as they do spread out.
Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes at 200C (390F) or until they are crinkly and just set in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for around 10-12 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Flavor Variations for Sourdough Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
These gorgeous sourdough crinkle cookies feature a rich chocolate flavor, but if you would like to add something a little different, then why not try some of the flavor ideas:
- Sourdough Chocolate Espresso Crinkle Cookies - add a few tablespoons of espresso powder to the cookie dough for a sourdough mocha crinkle cookie you'll love!
- Sourdough Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies - add a few drops of peppermint essence to the dough. You could even add some crushed candy canes to make them extra Christmassy! Perfect sourdough Christmas cookies!
- Sourdough Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookies - add some mini chocolate chips to the dough to create an extra chocolate flavors.
How To Store + Freeze
These delicious, chewy sourdough chocolate crinkle cookies are best stored in an airtight container. I find that they store best in a glass jar or cookie tin. If you need to layer them, I find putting a piece of parchment paper between each layer of cookies is a good idea and stops them from becoming too soft.
These sourdough crinkle cookies freeze really well. The best time to freeze them are once they've been rolled in powdered sugar. Snap freeze them on a baking tray before transferring them to a zip loc bag.
When you're ready to bake, roll them in powdered sugar again and then bake them for around 14 to 15 minutes.
Sourdough Choclate Crinkle Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie Scoop
- 2 Cookie Sheets or Baking Trays (lined with parchment paper)
Ingredients
- 180 g Butter (softened at room temperature)
- 300 g Granulated Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 100 g Sourdough Starter (active starter or sourdough discard)
- 10 g Baking Soda
- 2 g Salt
- 80 g Cocoa Powder
- 300 g All Purpose Flour
- 75 g Powdered Sugar (for rolling the dough balls in)
Instructions
Making the Cookie Dough
- In a medium size bowl, cream butter and granulated sugar together until well combined (I've just used a whisk but you can use a stand mixer if you prefer).
- Now add the egg and sourdough starter. Whisk together until the batter is light and fluffy.
- Now, add the baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and all purpose flour and stir to create a thick cookie dough. The dough will be a bit wetter than a regular cookie dough. The cocoa powder can be a little hard to incorporate, but stick with it, it will come together.
- Cover the bowl of cookie dough with a plastic food cover and place into the fridge for at least 2 hours. This dough can be left in the fridge overnight to ferment with no issues.
When You're Ready to Bake
- Preheat the oven to 200C (390F). Prepare two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop out balls of dough and roll them into perfect balls. Roll each ball first into the granulated sugar and then into the powdered sugar until they are completely coated and then place onto the prepared cookie sheet. You want to leave a space between each one as they do spread out.
- Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes at 200C (390F) or until they are crinkly and just set in the middle. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for around 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Looking forward to using this recipe chocolate crinkles are a fave holiday cookie. What is the shelf life stored in a container? Thank you!
Hi Kate - just a question about the recipe. I was about to make it, got all the ingredients measured up in little bowls. But instruction number 1 says "Brown sugar". I looked at the photos, and the photos had white sugar. Just checking before I start mixing everything together if any kind of sugar will do. Thanks in advance & thanks for sharing you knowledge. I learned a lot by following your website...
Sorry Rowena, that was a typo but has since been corrected. They will work with brown sugar, however I find granulated is better 🙂 xx
How much brown sugar do we use? It's not in the recipe.
Another fabulous recipe! I wanted to recreate my favorite chocolate Andes Mint cookie recipes but with sourdough, I skipped rolling in sugar and when hot out of the oven I put 1/2 an Andes mint on top of each and then spread it like icing once melted. They are to die for!
Does this call for dutched or natural process cocoa? I assume the baking soda is at least for neutralizing the tang of the starter, but whether it's also enough for natural or raw cacao powder I don't know. By volume it looks to be about 2tsp which is a lot for most recipes.
We made these yesterday. We weren’t crazy about them.
There are OUTSTANDING. Hubby said some of the best cookies I’ve made. They kind of taste like those 2bite brownies but better. I’m making them again tonight for the 2nd time.
Hello Kate,
I’m diabetic so really limit sweets but these look so good so I want to make them. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on sugar free sweeteners like stevia or monk fruit and if you think they would negatively affect the sourdough starter or recipe in any way?
Just put my batter in the fridge and it's looking amazing already. I'm wondering though if I should have reserved some of the 300g of granulated sugar for rolling the cookies in later? If not do you just use eyeball it for rolling the cookies? Thank you!
Hi Kate, I weighed everything, but my dough wasn't at all wet, more like regular cookie dough. It was on the counter for two hours and in the fridge overnight for about 7 hours. It doesn't look puffy- Because its chocolate, its hard to see if there are bubbles through the glass bowl. Should I incorporate more moisture somehow and let it sit out today some more? The dough tasts good, so I don't want to ruin it. I didn't see anywhere in the directions about how much it should rise..- Sandy
DELISH!! Huge hit with everyone! Perfect crunchy outside with soft cake-like middle. Will be making this again… and again!
Ok, 1st, THANK YOU KATE for putting your recipes in weights not measures (tons of sourdough discard recipe sites all dealing with measuring cups, what's with that Bakers) ... the cookies, absolutely love them, so why only 4 stars? Bcz my chocoholics felt the sugar crinkle took away from the overall chocolatiness (is that a word?), next time I'll add chips too, or leave off the coating (awesome cookie as is), OR maybe add choc chips AND Hazelnuts... the discard world IS our oyster. Thank YOU, again Kate❣️ (ps~YES, I did just find you)
Yummy Cookies, Can I ask a Question if I wanted to make and freeze the dough how would you do it?
You can freeze the dough into balls and then place into a ziploc bag. Pop the frozen balls onto a baking tray and let them soften a little before baking as per normal.
Hi, can these be frozen before baking, like your choc chip cookies....
They can! The best time to freeze them are once they've been rolled in powdered sugar. Snap freeze them on a baking tray before transferring them to a zip loc bag. When you're ready to bake, roll them in powdered sugar again and then bake them for around 14 to 15 minutes. 🙂
Thank your for this recipe, made it with the espresso added in and used cinnamon sugar to roll in before the the powdered sugar roll, love! Can you freeze these after baking? I wasn't thinking before I baked them all, actually how many there were.
So glad you loved the recipe 🙂 Yes you can definitely freeze after baking, no problems 🙂
I would think that adding the baking soda at the beginning would prevent fermentation, as it would neutralize the lactic acid (produced by the lactic acid bacteria) before it can work its magic in digesting the flour, neutralizing phytic acid etc. However adding it to chilled dough is very difficult as I've found, and the cookies ended up with a weird, chemical taste (although my husband didn't notice). So...it would seem that the only option is to allow it to ferment at room temperature, THEN add the baking soda (and salt) to the soft dough and then form balls (maybe dipping the cookie scoop in water to help with sticking?) which are then chilled in the fridge before baking. The chilling step would probably take much less time given that the individual balls release heat more quickly. Thoughts?
Also I forgot to suggest adding extra sugar if the dough is to be fermented, as some of the sugar gets digested and the cookies end up less sweet otherwise. I added an extra 50g the last time I made these, and they turned out about right.
We loved these. I had the dough in the fridge for two days before baking and they still turned out great.
These cookies are beyond amazing! I did make one change....I scooped the dough, refrigerated for one hour, then shaped, rolled in sugar and baked. so much easier to scoop the dough at room temp.
Forgot to leave rating in previous comment. Def will be making the again
On your SD chocolate crinkle cookies, do you press down the balls before baking, or do they flatten out as they bake? Can't wait to make these!
These will flatten out as they bake 🙂 xx