These Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies are made with browned butter to emphasize their delicious nutty flavor.
They are soft and chewy and not at all dry or crumbly. They are some of the best peanut butter cookies you will ever bake.
Peanut butter cookies have never been my favorite. Typically I find them too dry and crumbly to be enjoyable.
When I decided to create a peanut butter cookie recipe to use up some of my sourdough discard, I wanted to make sure they would be soft, moist, and delicious.
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One consequence of maintaining a sourdough starter is figuring out what to do with the extra discard.
Enter sourdough discard recipes. Honestly I probably make more sourdough discard recipes than loaves of sourdough bread. Some of my favorites include Sourdough German Pancake, Sourdough Discard Scones, and Sourdough Pumpkin Bread.
One of my favorite foods are cookies! So of course I've created several sourdough cookie recipes: Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies, Sourdough Turtle Cookies, Sourdough Apple Cookies, Sourdough Discard Shortbread, Sourdough Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies, Sourdough Discard Gingerbread Cookies, Sourdough Snickerdoodles, Sourdough Molasses Cookies, Sourdough Sugar Cookies, Sourdough Pumpkin Cookies, and thick Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.
As a nice change of pace this cookie recipe came together quite easily. I only needed to test the recipe three times. The biggest questions I had were would using bread flour or all-purpose flour give me a better texture and can you use all natural peanut butter.
Keep reading to find out the answers.
Recipe Ingredients
All you need are a couple of simple ingredients for these Sourdough Discard Peanut Butter Cookies.
Bread Flour: I typically use bread flour rather than all-purpose flour in my cookie recipes. Bread flour helps to create a chewier cookie. For accuracy, the best way to measure the flour is by using a digital kitchen scale.
Tip: If you don't have a digital scale, spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level it with the back of a butter knife. Try not to compress the flour into the measuring cup.
Salt: I add at least a pinch of salt to all of my recipes. Salt complements and intensifies the other flavors. For all of my recipes, I use Morton Kosher Salt which packs more densely than Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt. If you are using Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt you will want to double the amount of salt you add.
Unsalted Butter: Room temperature butter is easier to cream together with the sugar. I use unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter, do not add additional salt to the recipe. There is about ¼ teaspoon of salt per stick of salted butter.
Peanut Butter: I suggest using processed peanut butter like Jif or Skippy. You can use creamy or crunchy peanut butter. Crunchy peanut butter adds a bit of crunch and bursts of peanut flavor to these cookies.
Brown Sugar and Granulated White Sugar: This recipe uses both types of sugar. The brown sugar adds moisture while the white sugar helps the cookie dough spread while it is baking.
Sourdough Discard: Don't worry your cookies won't be sour. There is plenty of sugar to eliminate the sourdough flavor. Bring your sourdough discard to room temperature before adding it to the recipe. It will be easier to incorporate. Active starter or sourdough discard can be used.
Pro Sourdough Tip: Keep a glass jar in your refrigerator to store your sourdough discard. Continue adding to it until you have enough to make your chosen sourdough discard recipe.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Are you new to sourdough? I have plenty of information to help you on your sourdough journey.
- How to Create Your Own Micro Sourdough Starter
- Scrapings Method for Sourdough Starter
- How to Dehydrate Sourdough Starter
- Storing Sourdough Starter in the Refrigerator
- Storing Sourdough Starter on the Counter
- Best Containers for Storing Sourdough Starter and Discard
- How Long Does Sourdough Discard Last?
- What is the Difference Between Sourdough Starter and Sourdough Discard?
- Best Gifts for Sourdough Bakers
Substitutions and Variations
- If you don't have bread flour, you can substitute regular all-purpose flour. Because of its lower protein content, cookies made with all-purpose flour will be crispier.
- Peanut Butter: You can use natural peanut butter, creamy peanut butter, or crunchy peanut butter to make these cookies.
- Add chocolate chips to create peanut butter chocolate chip cookies!
- Peanut Butter Blossoms: Roll the dough into balls and place a Hershey Kiss on top of each dough ball and bake.
Step by Step Directions
Step 1: Slice the butter into pieces and melt it in a light-colored skillet over medium heat stirring or whisking constantly. (Image 1) Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. (Image 2)
Tip: Using a light-colored pan makes it easier to monitor the color of the butter as it browns.
Continue stirring/whisking for about 5-7 minutes, the foam will begin to subside and the melted butter will darken to a deep amber color. (Images 3 & 4) Remove the browned butter from the heat, and pour it into a bowl. Allow the butter to cool for 30 minutes.
If you still have questions about how to brown butter, check out this video on how to brown butter from America's Test Kitchen.
Step 2: In a large bowl add the browned butter, creamy peanut butter, brown sugar, and granulated white sugar. Whisk until there are no lumps of brown sugar. (Image 5)
Step 3: Add the 1 cup sourdough discard, 1 egg yolk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Whisk together until smooth. (Image 6)
Step 4: Stir in the 1 cup bread flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt. (Image 7) Wrap the dough in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.
Tip: The chill time allows the butter in the dough to firm up and allows the flour to fully hydrate. Which prevents the cookies from spreading too much.
Step 6: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it into balls, about 2 tablespoons of dough each. Place the remaining ½ cup (100g) of sugar into a bowl. Roll each ball in the sugar and arrange on baking sheets about 2 inches apart. (Image 8)
Tip: To quickly portion out the dough use a knife to cut the chilled dough into smaller pieces.
Tip: Use a light-colored cookie sheet. Dark cookie sheets absorb too much heat and can cause your cookies to overbake. Check out this post from Handle the Heat to see a comparison of cookies baked on different types of cookie sheets.
Step 7: Use a fork to make a crisscross indent on top of each. (Image 10)
Step 8: Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned but the center is still soft. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. (Image 11)
Tip: For crispier cookies increase the bake time by 2-3 minutes.
Make-Ahead, Storage, and Freezing Instructions
Make-Ahead: You can mix up the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Chilling cookie dough keeps it from spreading too much as it bakes by hydrating the flour and solidifying the butter.
Storing: Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Freezing Cookie Dough: Unbaked cookie dough balls can be frozen for up to 3 months. I always have a batch of Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Cookie dough in my freezer for when a cookie craving strikes.
Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid. Once frozen, remove from the baking sheet and place in a zip-top bag. Label with the date and contents.
When you are ready to bake cookies, remove the cookie balls from the freezer, let them sit at room temperature while the oven preheats, and then bake. You may need to add a minute or two to the baking time.
Freezing Baked Cookies: Baked cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Once the cookies have cooled completely, place them on a sheet pan and freeze until solid. Transfer the frozen cookies to an airtight container or zip-top bag. Label with the date and contents.
Thaw frozen cookies overnight on the counter.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, either will work. Cookies baked with active sourdough starter may be a tiny bit puffier.
You can use natural peanut butter to make these cookies. Make sure to stir the peanut butter really well so that there isn't any oily or dry bits.
I have made these peanut butter cookies both ways and didn't notice a difference in texture. The only adjustment you may need to make is to double the salt. The natural peanut butter I used didn't have any salt added and therefore the cookies were a bit bland.
Either type of peanut butter will work. Crunchy peanut butter adds a bit of crunch and bursts of peanut flavor to these cookies.
Yes. This is a pretty soft dough. Chilling the dough will make it easier to roll into balls and prevent the cookies from spreading too much when they are baked.
Making crosshatch marks on the top of peanut butter cookies prior to baking helps them to flatten and spread.
Expert Tips
- Use a kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients rather than the cup measurements. In baking accuracy matters. If you don't have one this is my favorite kitchen scale, because the display pulls out making it easy to see even if you are using a large bowl.
- Use room temperature butter, eggs and sourdough discard. Chilled eggs or sourdough discard may cause some of the butter to re-solidify prematurely. To quickly bring the eggs to room temperature, place them in a bowl of warm water for 10-15 minutes.
- Chill the dough for at least 2-3 hours before baking. Chilling allows the butter to firm up and the flour to absorb more liquid further solidifying the dough. If the dough is baked without chilling it first, the cookies will spread while baking and become thin, hard, and crispy.
- Use a cookie scoop for evenly portioned cookies. Take the guesswork out of portioning cookies by using a cookie scoop to make sure each cookie is the same size. Alternatively, you could cut the block of cookie dough into even pieces with a knife. I find that this method saves me time.
- Baking times for all recipes are only suggestions. The actual baking time will vary depending on your oven. It is helpful to know your oven and worth purchasing an inexpensive oven thermometer. Oven temperatures can vary as much as 50 degrees plus or minus.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
More Cookie Recipes
Thanks for Reading!
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📖 Recipe
Brown Butter Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar plus ¼ cup (50g) for rolling
- 1 cup sourdough discard room-temperature
- 1 egg yolk room-temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup bread flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Slice the ½ cup unsalted butter into pieces and melt it in a light-colored skillet over medium heat stirring or whisking constantly. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Continue stirring/whisking for about 5-7 minutes, the butter will become a deep amber color. Remove the browned butter from the heat, and pour it into a bowl. Allow the butter to cool for 30 minutes.
- In a large bowl add the browned butter, ¾ cup creamy peanut butter, ½ cup brown sugar, and ¼ cup granulated white sugar. Whisk until there are no lumps of brown sugar.
- Add the 1 cup sourdough discard, 1 egg yolk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Whisk together until smooth.
- Stir in the 1 cup bread flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon kosher salt.
- Wrap the dough in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it into balls, about 2 tablespoons of dough each.
- Place the remaining ¼ cup (50g) of sugar into a bowl. Roll each ball in the sugar and arrange on baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Use a fork to make a crisscross indent on top of each.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned but the center is still soft. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
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