Sourdough Discard Cowboy Cookies [full of rolled oats, pecans + coconut]
This post may contain affiliate links.
Sourdough Discard Cowboy Cookies are crispy on the outer edges, chewy in the middle and bursting with pecans, coconut flakes, rolled oats and chocolate chips.
Use 100g of sourdough starter discard to create these delicious cowboy cookies. The dough ferments in the fridge for a few hours to ensure you get a great flavor, texture and sourdough goodness!
If you love baking and eating sourdough cookies, you might also enjoy these soft sourdough chocolate chip cookies, sourdough jam drops, sourdough snickerdoodles, sourdough peanut butter cookies or these sourdough Anzac biscuits.
What are Cowboy Cookies?
Cowboy cookies are a type of cookie that is similar to chocolate chip cookies but with a twist. They are typically made with oatmeal or rolled oats, chocolate chips and pecans.
Cowboy cookies have a different texture to chocolate chip cookies because they have less flour. The added rolled oats and pecans give them crunch, but they're still a little chewy in the centre.
These cookies tend to be a little less uniform in shape than traditional chocolate chip cookies.
How To Make Sourdough Discard Cowboy Cookies
These sourdough discard cowboy cookies are really easy to mix and bake. You literally mix wet and dry ingredients together! How simple is that? I think the hardest part of this recipe is actually creating the balls of dough because after it's been the in the fridge, the cookie dough is very stiff.
I recommend using a good quality cookie scoop to form uniform balls of dough. I have used 30g balls of dough for the sourdough cowboy cookies in these photos. After testing a few different sizes, this size consistently baked up well and had a good texture compared to larger and smaller weights.
Here's how to make sourdough discard cowboy cookies:
- Place all of the dry ingredients (all purpose flour, baking powder, corn starch, white and brown sugar, pecans, rolled oats, sweetened coconut, salt and chocolate chips) into a large mixing bowl and combine. Set this aside.
- Now in a separate bowl, combine sourdough starter, melted butter, egg + egg yolk and vanilla extract. Stir together until they are well combined.
- Now pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to form the cookie dough. It will be quite stiff - that's ok!
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for 12 to 24 hours.
- The next day, when you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 165C (330F) and line two cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a cookie scoop or large spoon to scoop out balls of dough. I have used 30g dough balls for this recipe. Place the dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets. You can flatten them a little if you want to, but it's not necessary.
- Place the cookies into the oven for 13 to 16 minutes at 165C (330F) or until they are golden brown on top but still molten in the centre (see notes on this).
- Remove from the oven and carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool. The cookies will continue to bake for a few minutes after they are removed from the oven and will firm up as they cool.
Ingredient Notes
- Sourdough Discard - you can use sourdough discard or active sourdough starter. It's better not to use older sourdough discard as it will give the cookies an unpleasant sour flavor.
- Baking Powder - use Baking Powder NOT Baking Soda or Bicarb Soda.
- Corn Starch is a fine, white processed corn flour used for thickening sauces and gravies. Do NOT use corn meal! The corn starch is added to give you a softer cookie. Corn starch is called corn flour in Ausralia.
- Sweetened Coconut Flakes - I've used sweetened coconut flakes - you can use shredded coconut or unsweetened flakes if you prefer.
- Butter - Make sure you melt the butter for this recipe before you start. Letting it cool just slightly before you add it to the other ingredients will give you the best result. You don't want it to have cooled too much - it should still be slightly warm. I use salted butter in this recipe, but you can use unsalted butter if you prefer.
- Nuts - You can use any type of nuts you like - pecans, walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts all work really well.
Tips for Baking Sourdough Cowboy Cookies
- Refrigerating the dough will give you the best sourdough cowboy cookies. You'll get a chewier texture to the cooled cookies. I also love that refrigerating them overnight means that the dough ferments and the sourdough bacteria get to work their magic on your cookie dough! While you won't reap the same health benefits as eating sourdough bread, they're still doing lots of good!
- For thicker cowboy cookies, don't flatten the balls of dough before putting them in the oven. For thinner, crispier cookies, flatten the little balls down a little first.
- Don't over cook these cookies. Remove them from the oven when the centre still looks wet or they will be too dry when they cool. The temperature of 165C (330F) might seem low, but it will give you a chewy centred cookie with crispy edges.
Storage + Freezing
I find these sourdough discard cowboy cookies are better stored in a glass cookie jar or cookie tin. Storing them in plastic makes them go soft (and we love the crispy edges!).
They freeze really well. I have frozen them once they're baked and they defrost really well.
The best way to freeze them is to scoop out the cookie dough balls and then snap freeze those on a baking tray. Once frozen, transfer them to a ziploc bag. Then you can grab out a handful whenever you want fresh baked sourdough cowboy cookies.
You can bake these cookies from frozen - just add 5 minutes to the baking time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cowboy cookies are a type of cookie that is similar to chocolate chip cookies but with a twist. They are typically made with oatmeal or rolled oats, chocolate chips and pecans.
Cowboy cookies have a different texture to chocolate chip cookies because they have less flour. The added rolled oats and pecans give them crunch, but they're still a little chewy in the centre.
These cookies tend to be a little less uniform in shape than traditional chocolate chip cookies.
Yes, you can use active sourdough starter or sourdough discard for these cookies with no change to the process.
The sourdough cowboy cookie dough is fine in the fridge for up to 2 days. The cookies bake up just fine, even after this time.
Sourdough Discard Cowboy Cookies
Equipment
- Baking Tray
- Cookie Dough Scoop
Ingredients
- 200 g All Purpose Flour
- 8 g Baking Powder
- 6 g Corn Starch (see notes for definition)
- 2 g Salt
- 200 g Chocolate Chips
- 150 g Pecans
- 80 g Sweetened Coconut Flakes
- 100 g Rolled Oats
- 100 g Sourdough Starter or Sourdough Discard
- 180 g Salted Butter Melted
- 160 g Brown Sugar
- 100 g White Sugar
- 1 Egg + Egg Yolk
- 5 g Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Place all of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, corn starch, white and brown sugar, pecans, rolled oats, sweetened coconut, salt and chocolate chips) into a large mixing bowl and combine. Set this aside.
- Now in a separate bowl, combine sourdough starter, melted butter, egg + egg yolk and vanilla extract. Stir together until they are well combined.
- Now pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to form the cookie dough. It will be quite wet - that's ok!
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place into the fridge for 12 to 24 hours.
- The next day, when you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 165C (330F) and line two cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a cookie scoop or large spoon to scoop out balls of dough. I have used 30g dough balls for this recipe. Place the dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets. You can flatten them a little if you want to, but it's not necessary.
- Place the cookies into the oven for 13 to 16 minutes at 165C (330F) or until they are golden brown on top but still molten in the centre (see notes on this).
- Remove from the oven and carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool. The cookies will continue to bake for a few minutes after they are removed from the oven and will firm up as they cool.
Notes
- Use Baking Powder NOT Baking Soda or Bicarb Soda
- Corn Starch is a fine, white processed corn flour used for thickening sauces and gravies. Do NOT use corn meal! The corn starch is added to give you a softer cookie. Corn starch is called corn flour in Ausralia.
- Sweetened Coconut Flakes - I've used sweetened coconut flakes - you can use shredded coconut or unsweetened flakes if you prefer.
- Make sure you melt the butter for this recipe before you start. Letting it cool just slightly before you add it to the other ingredients will give you the best result. You don't want it to have cooled too much - it should still be slightly warm. I use salted butter in this recipe, but you can use unsalted butter if you prefer.
Can you put the dough into a 9x9 pan and cook right away to make cowboy squares?
(No refrigeration)
I haven't tried to do this - but it would definitely work, just allow the pan to cool before you slice them up so that they set 🙂 Great idea!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Very good! Left out the nuts.
30 g balls, unflattened worked Best for me.
I love your recipes but is it possible to have a print tab so we can easily print of the entire recipe?
Thank you:-)
Silly me I should have known you would already have thought of this:-)
Very tasty! I love the chewiness of the coconut in these cookies. Next time, I will probably form the cookie blobs prior to refrigerating, as it was really difficult to scoop the cold dough.
Do you ever post recipes with measurements like cups and teaspoons instead of grams?
No, I only bake in grams because it's much more accurate 🙂
Was hoping you would add a conversation in cup and teaspoon etc.. it’s definitely a pain to have to lookup.
You don't have to convert - just get a scale 🙂 Baking with a scale brings accuracy 🙂 You can read about why I don't use volume measurements here: Benefits of Weighing Sourdough Ingredients: Why Not To Use Cups When Baking Sourdough
Do you have to let these sit or can you just bake them after mixing.
It is better if you let them sit in the fridge before baking 🙂 But if you don't, they will just spread a bit more 🙂
I have cocoa powder how can I substitute it for the chocolate chips please?
I love these cookies so much! I’ve made them several times and used butterscotch chips, raisins, walnuts, and peanuts. Since it’s just us two old people and no children around, I split the batch into three pieces and roll them into a cylinder about 2 inches or an inch and a half in diameter and freeze them and then I can just slice off about 12 or 13 cookies from that roll and bake them. Yummy.
That’s what im doing! Im adding butterscotch chips to mine!
These cookies are seriously THE best!! I have never ever made a cookie recipe as many times as I have made this one. I add flax seeds & use my fresh milled flour. By far one of our all time FAVORITES!!
These are so good. My second batch is in the fridge now, can't wait for tomorrow.
Made them exactly as instructed (including using a scale to weigh my cookie balls)! Fantastic! I just love the nuances of flavors that seem to surprise me with each bite. The crisp texture on the outside is awesome. I did not flatten my cookie balls. My two oven racks were about in the center of my oven. I placed the first pan on the lower rack initially, and then moved it to the upper rack (about halfway through the baking time) when I placed the second pan into the oven (onto the lower rack). This method seemed to yield the perfect doneness. I will be taking a batch to a gathering tonight, so I am anxious to hear the reviews of my friends. Shhh, don't tell that I am leaving some at home!
Thank you. I will definitely be making this recipe many more times.
Hi Kate. Do you have a Sourdough Cookie base recipe? I'm looking for a recipe I can mix up the base then divide it into two or three bowls and put in different add-ins. Love this recipe!!!
Hi Amy, The base to this chocolate chip cookie recipe, or this white chocolate cranberry cookie recipe could work for changing up the add ins.
Is there a substitute for the coconut or can it be omitted? Eager to try this recipe but don’t like coconut.
I tried this recipe and did all the steps and measurements and my cookies turned out super flat and spread out. I checked my baking powder to see if it had expired and it won't until later this year. Do you have any other reasons why my cookies didn't turn out?
Is there a way to add protein powder to this recipe? Decrease the flour a bit maybe?
Just the best cookies. I've made many many times for friends and family and always requested when visiting or not. Mail me some DAD! Just recently made a batch using peanut butter chips and peanut halves. Pretty damn good.
Hi, love the sound of this cookie. I have a jar of peanut butter to use up as my husband doesn't like it & wondered if I could incorporate it into this recipe? Could you advise if possible & how much to use please. I guess probably have to adjust wet ingredients. Thanks 😊
Hi Lynne, We haven't tried, but it should work to replace the butter with the same amount of peanut butter. Please let us know if you try it!
This is fan favorite with friends an family.
Fun twist, I added a teaspoon of Chipotle powder. Made it bit more "cowboy" in everyone's opinion
Oh wow! I'll have to give this a try! xo
My absolute favorite cookie of all time!
Thank you!