These Sourdough Oatmeal Cookies are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside with a great nutty flavor thanks to the addition of browned butter. Sourdough discard adds a delicious tang to these oatmeal cookies.
Sponsored by Imperial Sugar
These Sourdough Discard Oatmeal Cookies are close to my heart because the very first thing that I ever baked in my life were oatmeal raisin cookies. I don’t think I’d ever eaten anything made in my home oven before it was such a revelation to me that I could create something so delicious from scratch. I’ve been in love with baking ever since.
Recipe Box Series
This is the fifth in my Recipe Box Series with Imperial Sugar. Each month, I’ll be releasing recipes for classic bakes made with a sourdough twist! You can look forward to comforting classics like Sourdough Fudge Brownies, Apple Pie with Sourdough Crust, Sourdough Pumpkin Bundt Cake and Sourdough Monkey Bread.
Sugar is a vital part of every dessert, it imparts flavor, texture, moisture, and without it, it would be impossible to make our favorite bakes. I’m grateful to Imperial Sugar for making the Recipe Box Series possible and so proud to be partnering with a company with such a long tradition of producing such high-quality products. Imperial Sugar products are 100% pure cane sugar, non-GMO and provide consistently delicious results.
What is Sourdough Discard
Sourdough discard is any portion of your sourdough starter that's not used to make bread. You can use it to make cakes, biscuits, scones and cookies!
Love sourdough cookie recipes? Check out my Top Sourdough Cookie Recipes.
Do These Cookies Taste Sour?
Sourdough discard adds a great tangy flavor to these cookies. That little bit of acidity cuts through the sugary sweetness of these oatmeal cookies. You can bake these Sourdough Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with discard directly from the fridge. Since you are not using it to make bread, your sourdough starter does not need to be activated or fed for it to work in this cookie recipe.
What You Need
Unsalted butter - you'll be browning the butter so you don't need to soften it before using it to make these cookies
Imperial Sugar Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
Imperial Sugar Dark Brown Sugar
Egg yolk - adds richness to the recipe and binds the ingredients together
Sourdough discard - you can use your starter directly from the refrigerator for the recipe
Vanilla extract - do not substitute vanilla flavor
All-purpose flour - do not substitute another type of flour for this recipe or it will change the texture of the cookies
Baking powder and baking soda - a combination of leaveners helps these cookies get a chewy texture
Salt - I developed this recipe using Morton's Kosher Salt, you'll need to use double the amount in volume if you are using Diamond Crystal
Old-fashioned oatmeal - don't use instant oats or steel-cut oats for this recipe or it will change the texture of the cookies
Step-by-step instructions
- Brown butter
- Make the cookie dough
- Add mix-ins
- Portion out cookie dough using a cookie scoop
- Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes at 375 F
- Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes
- Move the cookies to a wire rack and enjoy
Questions?
Your butter was probably too warm which caused your sugars to melt. Try letting your butter cool completely before mixing it with the rest of your ingredients or chilling your cookie dough before portioning them out.
Long fermentation allows the yeast in sourdough discard predigest the starches and sugars in flour, unlocking nutrients that makes these cookies easier to digest. To long ferment these cookies, simply make the cookie dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to a week.
I love keeping an emergency freezer stash of these cookies.
To freeze your cookie dough:
1. Portion your dough out using a cookie scoop
2. Freeze your cookies in a single layer on a small baking sheet
3. Once fully frozen, transfer cookie dough balls into zip lock back
4. Cookies should last in your freezer for up to 1 month
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Sourdough Discard Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 56 g unsalted butter
- 4 g ground cinnamon
- 120 g all-purpose flour
- 4 g baking soda
- 7 g salt
- 85 g vegetable oil
- 107 g Imperial Sugar Extra Fine Granulated Sugar
- 176 g Imperial Sugar Dark Brown Sugar
- 70 g sourdough discard
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 4 g vanilla extract
- 283 g old-fashioned rolled oats
Add-ins
- 100 g walnuts, optional
- 100 g semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 375 F/190 C. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Brown butter: Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, swirl pan occasionally to loosen the milk solids from the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat when the milk solids are golden brown and the butter has a nutty aroma, about 1 to 3 minutes. Bloom ground cinnamon in warm butter.
- Make the cookie dough: Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together in a mixing bowl until no lumps remain. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil to browned butter and whisk until combined. Stir in sourdough discard, egg, egg yolk, vanilla until the mixture is smooth. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in flour mixture until fully combined, about 1 minute.
- Add mix-ins: Stir in oats, and mix-ins and stir until evenly distributed (your mixture will be thick and stiff).
- Shape: Use a large cookie scoop (about 3 tablespoons) to portion out your cookie dough. Arrange cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared sheets, 10 dough balls per sheet. Use your fingers to flatten each one slightly before baking. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, and refrigerate the other cookie sheet as the cookies bake.
- Bake: Bake until cookie edges are slightly browned and crisp with centers soft but not wet, 10 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
- Enjoy and store: These cookies are better after they have cooled slightly and the interior has set. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
- To prevent your cookies from spreading, let melted butter cool to room temperature before folding in the sugars and chill cookie dough for at least 30 minutes before baking
- It’s best to err on the side of under-baking these cookies or they will turn out hard and crispy instead of soft and chewy
- To make the cookie dough in advance, portion out the cookie dough and freeze in a single layer. Once completely frozen, store the cookie dough portions in a ziplock bag.
Nutrition
Carol says
How much discard do you use for these oatmeal cookies?
Make It Dough says
70 Grams 😁
Carol says
Thanks.
Ana says
This recipe looks great! Do you think I could use all browned butter instead of half butter and half oil?
Make It Dough says
Yes! Although it may affect the texture of the cookies since oil helps keep these cookies chewy. You can always try is and report back!
cdngrrl says
Hi,
I don’t see how much discard to use in this recipe only in the instructions.
Thanks,
Kelly
Sent from Kelly's iPhone
Make It Dough says
Hi Kelly,
It says 70 grams in the table with the ingredients. Do let me know if you still can’t see it. It’s a little worrisome that 2 people have mentioned this.
Best,
Hannah
Jennifer says
You mention oil when you added the sugars but I don’t see oil in the list of ingredients
Make It Dough says
Thank you for catching that! I added the oil amount in the ingredient list, it's 86 grams.
Chloe Dillon says
Love your website, Hannah! I see a lot of sourdough discard recipes that use another type of leavening like baking soda. Do you think you could increase the amount of starter and lessen or eliminate the baking soda? I’m new to this and that is something that has struck me about discard recipes. It seems like the discard is more a substitute for flour and liquid than leavening, but it is a kind of leavening.
Make It Dough says
Thanks Chloe! I totally understand what you're saying, but yeast and baking soda/powder are two totally different leaveners that react completely differently with flour and have opposite effects on gluten. Baking soda increases the pH of dough it is added to, this creates thickness, while weakening the gluten, which creates tender baked goods, while the biological processes involved in leavening through yeast helps strengthen the gluten and elasticity of the dough. This gluten development is the enemy of soft cookies and cakes so that's why most of these types of discard recipes use baking soda/powder instead.
Chloe Dillon says
So smart and helpful. Thanks!
Chloe Dillon says
Just wanted to confirm that you meant 10 grams of chocolate chips?
Also, I wanted to let you know that I tried it with coconut oil, not knowing that coconut oil is known to react differently in the oven, and I did not get the texture that you did at all. Still tasty.
Rex Aronhime says
looks really interesting!!
Do you think it is possible to reduce the amount of oil/fat? substitute with something else?
Make It Dough says
I've never tried substituting the fat in this recipe for any other ingredients. Fat is very important for tenderizing the gluten in baked goods, so I wouldn't skip it.
Sheri says
I made a double batch of these today for the first time and believe me it won't be the last!! They are so yummy! I added a little flaked sea salt to the top of each cookie before baking and I really liked what it added! Thanks for a great recipe!
Make It Dough says
Yay so glad you liked these!
Sheri Nix says
I'm making them for the 5th time right now! This time, along with the chocolate chips, I added chopped roasted almonds!
Make It Dough says
That sounds amazing!!
skylarksadventures says
I made this with toasted rolled oats, not instant, and they totally melted in the oven! They spread really far out. Next time I'll try with the instant oats like what's in the recipe. Maybe my cookie dough was too warm to begin with?
Make It Dough says
That could be it! Try chilling the cookie dough before baking next time!
Maria says
Cookies went flat my cookies went flat, I used vegetable oil, they taste really good but would like to know if I should increase the flour to make them firmer and stay together.
Make It Dough says
Try chilling the dough before baking!
Mom, JD says
These are fabulous! I’ve been instructed by my family to never lose this recipe! ☺️ Thank you so much! And thanks for the clear instructions on browning the butter—that’s not a technique I’ve tried before but your instructions were so clear & precise it went swimmingly!
Make It Dough says
I'm so glad your family loved this recipe!!! ❤️
Yuri says
These taste good, and you might even think they were healthy if you didn't know the amount of fat and sugar that goes into them 😄. I do think the recipe should say to chill the dough because mine also spread out A LOT. I'm guessing it is because the browned butter is liquid and warm.
Make It Dough says
That would definitely be a good addition to the recipe! Chilling for even 30 minutes would make a huge difference 😁
Julie says
I have made this recipe 3 times now and it is perfect every time! I especially appreciate that amounts are given in weight. It makes the recipe quicker and simpler to prepare. Thus will be my go-to cookie from now on, and it's a bonus that it uses up discard. I do need to bake a little longer in my oven.
Make It Dough says
Thank you for the wonderfully kind words. I'm so glad you love these cookies as much as I do!
Barb says
Can I use Einkorn sourdough discard?
Make It Dough says
I think einkorn discard and flour would work beautifully here but I haven't used it myself so I can't confirm. Please do let me know if it works!
barbara culbert says
Can I use a substitute for the sugar like palm sugar, honey and/or maple syrup?
Make It Dough says
The type of sugar used here is essential to the texture. You can certainly try, but as I've never done this before, I can't confirm the results!
Sarah says
So delicious! It's my new favourite discard recipe! I found the 1/4 cup dough balls a little too big... So I cut that in half (woohoo more cookies!)... I also noticed that when you put the mix-ins in, the cookies take a minute or two longer to cook than when there's no mix-ins (our favourite mix-ins are walnut pieces and chocolate chips!)! Delicious cookies with or without mix-ins! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Make It Dough says
So happy to hear that you enjoyed them! I've never tried these without mix-ins. I'll have to make these again to try your alterations
Nancy says
Could you please convert the measurements to US units? Thank you! I really want to try the recipe!
Make It Dough says
I think King Arthur flour has a great ingredient conversion table you could try and it's pretty easy to find on their site 😊
barbara says
These cookies are so delicious and easy to make, but I wanted to cut down on the granulated sugar, so I used 176g of coconut palm sugar; 57g of brown sugar; 50g granulated sugar, and they are just as good as the originals.
I then tried this recipe with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Because the chips are very sweet, I cut down the sugar to 130g palm, 50g brown and 40g granulated. They were delicious too! They're a little crunchier than the originals, but that may be because of the nuts? I think next time I will use even less sugar as they are really sweet.
Thanks so much for this great recipe!
Make It Dough says
So glad this works with less sugar. Your additions sound amazing, I'll have to try this recipe with these alterations as well.
Vasco santos says
Great Recipe.... I've done it with white chocolate instead of dark and came out great! Thanks a lot
Make It Dough says
That sounds like an excellent substitution!
Kyla says
Just made these and they are delicious! I added the chocolate chips and a small amount of pureed avocado, as I only had one egg, and not the extra yoke and I saw that that might work as a substitute - either way, I'll be doing this again, thanks for sharing!
Make It Dough says
So happy you liked them!
suzanneholt says
This looks so good! I didn't know you could make cookies with sourdough starter!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
Make It Dough says
They should keep for at least a week! You can always apportion the dough into individual cookies and freeze the dough balls.
Gael says
Absolutely delicious! I think the brown butter is the secret. I added walnuts and craisins. I couldn't taste the sourdough at all. My new favorite cookie.
Make It Dough says
So happy you loved it!
Christina says
I’m new to sourdough...do I use the recently fed discard or use the discard before feeding it?
Make It Dough says
You can use your discard at any point for these. It doesn't need to be active for this bake to work.
Elizabeth F says
I’ve made this recipe numerous times, everyone loves it! Thanks for the great recipe!
Nicole says
The taste of these was excellent (the browned butter is amazing), but I also had the spreading problem. I followed the recipe to a T, using weighted measurements, quick oats, and even chilled the dough... but the cookies still spread out on my cookie sheet to make a giant uni-cookie! I even tried using a different baking sheet with a silicone mat instead of parchment paper. Not sure what happened... but regardless, I'm still enjoying eating them!
Make It Dough says
Glad you still loved the cookies, but that's such a bummer about the spreading. Try letting the browned butter cool down a little bit before adding the sugars or allow the butter/sugar mixture to cool for 5 minutes and then stir again for 2 times before continuing the next steps. Hope you try this one again!
Taryn says
Just made these cookies without the dried cranberries (I’m the only one in my family who would like that) and my husband and I agree they are delicious!
Make It Dough says
Yay! I'm so glad you loved these!
Joy says
Hello! Can I use regular oats instead of instant? Joy
Make It Dough says
Yes! Regular oats would work great!
Bruce says
Just tried them for the first time, using half einkorn and half AP white flour. In my oven it took about 14 minutes to done. Raisins and toasted almonds (that's what was in the house.) They're fantastic! Thanks for this.
Make It Dough says
Thank you for trying them!
Leonie Chung says
These oatmeal cookies are so good my boy ate 4 after he came home from school. The sourdough makes all the difference!! Thanks Hannah for this great recipe!!
Priscilla Grochowski says
Both my husband and I love these cookies! I, of course, added chocolate chips to them. I am wondering why you use only the yoke with the second egg? When we ran out of these cookies my husband requested I make them again. Having so much fun with my sourdough, named Poppy!💜
Make It Dough says
So glad you liked the cookies! Egg whites are mostly water, so they add a lot of hydration to baked goods. Water from the starter and the egg whites would add too much moisture to the cookie dough which could make these cookies spread too much when baked.
Aly says
I’ve made these so many times now and they are fabulous! Definitely a go-to cookie recipe that anyone will love. I always use dark chocolate chips, but have also done raisin. Somehow I always mess up the order of ingredients and it still turns out perfect. Thank you!!!