Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

Save your sourdough discard and make soft and chewy sourdough peanut butter cookies. Fast and easy with no chilling or mixer required! Recipe includes a how-to video!

Sourdough peanut butter cookies with sugared tops on brown parchment paper.

Sourdough Discard Peanut Butter Cookies

Sourdough bakers, here’s another recipe for using up your sourdough discard! These sourdough peanut butter cookies incorporate sourdough discard into my classic peanut butter cookie recipe. They are distinctly peanut buttery and have perfectly chewy (not cakey!) texture.

If you haven’t yet started your sourdough journey, check out my post on how to make a sourdough starter to get started. Baking with sourdough is a lot of fun, and you’re rewarded with tasty (and nutritious!) sourdough bread, sourdough pretzels, and more!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Repurposes sourdough discard instead of wasting it. I love when I can incorporate my sourdough discard into recipes; not only does it reduce food waste, but it also adds depth of flavor too!
NOT cakey. Sourdough discard contains a lot of water, which can make for cakey cookies (also a big issue when making pumpkin cookies!). We carefully counteract this so our cookies turn out perfectly tender and chewy.
No chilling! The dough can be baked right after making it, which means this recipe is perfect for days when need a sweet treat but are short on time.
No mixer needed. Since we’re using melted butter instead of softened, you can easily mix this dough together by hand. I’m all for saving dishes when I can!

Ingredients

Sourdough discard. Don’t use discard that’s too old or seems watery. I don’t use discard more than a day or two old (if stored at room temperature) or a week old (if stored in the refrigerator).
Peanut butter. I prefer creamy peanut butter, but I suppose you could use crunchy if you like a little texture. I have not tested this recipe (yet) with natural peanut butter (but hope to try it with my homemade peanut butter soon).
Butter. We’ll start with plain old melted butter, which yields more flavorful and chewy cookies compared to cookies made with softened butter. While you may be tempted to use browned butter (like I do in my sourdough chocolate chip cookies), I actually don’t recommend it. I tested this recipe with browned butter, and it just wasn’t a hit. The flavor struggled to shine against the peanut butter and it wasn’t worth the extra effort.
Egg yolks. We’re skipping the egg whites today to accommodate for our sourdough discard, which has lots of water. If you don’t want to waste your egg whites, use them to make coconut macaroons, sea foam, brownie bark, or blueberry cream cheese muffins.
Light brown sugar. If you have it on hand, you use do a half cup of dark brown sugar and a half cup of light brown sugar instead of all light brown. This is actually my preference, it adds a bit more depth and richness (without being over the top, like all dark brown sugar would be).

SAM’S TIP: Sprinkle coarse sugar on top of your cookies before baking for a bit of flavor and texture! I like to use organic cane sugar for this (because it’s coarser), but regular granulated sugar would work too.

Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Them

Overhead view of a bowl of cookie dough made with peanut butter and sourdough discard.

Make the dough

Make sure your butter has cooled completely and is no longer warm to the touch before you get started, otherwise you will melt the sugars and your dough will be greasy. Add the sugars and peanut butter and stir well before adding the remaining wet ingredients.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then stir them into the wet ingredients in 3-4 parts. Adding them this way (as opposed to dumping them all in at once) allows them to fully absorb and makes the dough much easier to work with.

Fork flattening sourdough peanut butter cookies before baking.

Roll & bake

Scoop your cookie dough and roll between your palms until smooth (optional, but makes for much prettier cookies). Before baking, lightly sprinkle the top of each cookie with sugar if desired (I don’t care to roll the whole cookie in sugar, just a little sprinkle on top is perfect). Flatten each cookie slightly with the tines of a fork, but don’t smash them too much, or they won’t stay as moist, soft and chewy as they ought to on the inside.

A note of caution: Over-baking is one of the worst things you can do with these cookies! They’ll seem dry, flavorless, crumbly or bland if over-baked. I actually prefer to very slightly underbake these cookies and let them finish baking outside the oven on the hot cookie sheets; this guarantees that soft and chewy texture we’re aiming for.

Bake and let cool completely on the baking sheet before moving–the cookies are very fragile when warm.

SAM’S TIP: If your first batch of cookies spreads too much, double-check that you didn’t flatten them too much and/or stick your dough in the fridge for 15-30 minutes. This usually means your butter (or your kitchen) got a bit too warm.

Overhead view of cookies made with peanut butter and sourdough discard.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make this dough ahead of time?

Yes! Just make sure to cover it well and store in the fridge (it’ll keep for 3-4 days before baking). The dough can be tough to scoop after a long bout of chilling, just let it sit (covered) at room temperature for 20-30 minutes or until soft enough to scoop.

Why are my cookies dry?

These cookies will be dry if you flatten them too much before baking OR if you over-bake them. Over-baking will also affect the flavor of these cookies, making them bland when they should be perfectly peanut buttery.

Will natural peanut butter work?

I typically avoid using natural peanut butter (or homemade peanut butter) in baked recipes, as the results can be inconsistent. Unfortunately, sometimes the cookies can end up extra dry if made with natural peanut butter. I haven’t tested this recipe with it yet, but hope to soon.