Fudgy chocolate cookies with a cracked white surface, using up sourdough discard. Fifteen cookies.
The three hour chill is not optional
The recipe says so directly, calling it mandatory for the next steps, and it is right.
This dough is made with oil rather than butter, so there is no solid fat to firm it up. Straight after mixing it is a loose batter you could pour.
Three hours in the fridge thickens it enough to scoop and roll. Attempting it warm gives you sticky hands and flat cookies.
Up to three days is fine, which makes this genuinely useful for planning.
Roll very generously in powdered sugar
A quarter cup on a plate, with the recipe noting you may need more.
Generously is the operative word. A thin dusting disappears into the cookie during baking and you lose the crinkle effect entirely.
A thick, opaque coating is what cracks apart as the cookie spreads, revealing the dark dough beneath. That contrast is the whole point.
Roll, then roll again if any dark patches show through.
Where the crinkle comes from
Worth understanding, since it explains why the coating matters so much.
The powdered sugar coating dries in the oven and forms a crust before the cookie has finished spreading. As the dough continues to expand underneath, that crust has nowhere to go and fractures.
Anything that stops the crust forming, including a thin coating or a wet dough surface, stops the cracking.
Neutral oil, not olive
A quarter cup, with the recipe specifying avocado oil and warning against olive.
Olive oil has a pronounced flavour that fights chocolate. Avocado, sunflower, canola or vegetable oil all work and contribute nothing but fat.
Oil rather than butter is what makes these fudgy rather than cakey. Butter contains water, which turns to steam and lifts a cookie; oil does not.
Sourdough discard, unfed
A quarter cup.
Discard is what you remove before feeding a starter, and it is mildly acidic. Here it adds a subtle tang against the chocolate and contributes moisture.
It is not leavening this recipe. The baking powder does that, and discard straight from the fridge has little rising power anyway.
Any discard works regardless of how long it has been sitting, as long as it smells sour rather than off.
Nine to eleven minutes, and take them out soft
The recipe is clear they will be soft coming out and firm as they cool.
That is the correct read. A crinkle cookie baked until it feels done in the oven is dry and cakey once cool.
Soft in the centre with set edges is what you want. They finish setting on the sheet.
Fifteen minutes on the sheet
Before moving them to a rack.
That is longer than most cookie recipes and it matters here. These are fragile while warm and they tear if lifted early.
Fifteen minutes lets the structure set enough to move them intact.
Thirty three to thirty five grams each
Which the recipe helpfully specifies alongside the volume measure.
Weighing gives you fifteen identical cookies that bake at the same rate. In a nine to eleven minute window, a cookie twice the size of its neighbour will be underdone.
A medium cookie scoop gets close enough if you have no scale.
Two inches apart
These spread meaningfully, which is what creates the cracks.
Crowded cookies run into each other and the edges that touch stay pale and soft rather than setting.
Storing
Airtight at room temperature for four days. The powdered sugar coating absorbs moisture from the cookie over time and can look patchy by day three, which is cosmetic rather than a problem.
Freezing the dough
The chilled dough freezes for three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before scooping, since frozen dough will not take a sugar coating.
Sourdough Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Description
Rich crinkle cookies using sourdough discard, chilled three hours and rolled in powdered sugar.
Ingredients:
Instructions
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In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
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In a large bowl whisk the sourdough discard, oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.
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Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until fully combined.
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Cover the dough tightly and refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to 3 days. This step is not optional, as the oil-based dough is too loose to handle otherwise.
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Preheat the oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Put the powdered sugar on a large plate.
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Scoop and roll the dough into balls of about 33 to 35g each. Roll each very generously in the powdered sugar until no dark patches show, and place 2 inches apart on the sheets.
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Bake 9 to 11 minutes. They will be soft coming out and will firm as they cool. Let them cool on the baking sheet a full 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack..
Note
The three hour chill is mandatory, which the source states directly: this dough uses oil rather than butter, so there is no solid fat to firm it and it is a loose batter straight after mixing. Up to three days is fine. Roll very generously in powdered sugar, re-rolling if dark patches show; a thin coating disappears during baking and you lose the crinkle. The cracks form because the sugar coating dries into a crust before the cookie finishes spreading, so the crust fractures as the dough expands. Use a neutral oil, not olive, which fights the chocolate. Take them out soft, as they firm on the sheet, and leave them there a full 15 minutes since they tear if moved early. Weigh at 33 to 35g each so they bake evenly in the short window. Space two inches apart.