These Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies are chewy, rich, and packed with classic peanut butter flavor, plus, they’re a fantastic way to use up your sourdough discard. After testing this recipe multiple times to achieve the ideal texture, I’ve found that the discard adds a subtle tang and depth of flavor that makes these cookies truly special! Whether you’re an experienced sourdough baker or just getting started, this is an easy, reliable recipe you’ll want to make again and again.
I love making sourdough bread, but I have always hated getting rid of the extra sourdough starter when you feed your starter. I received my starter a few years ago from a family friend, but you can easily make your own and get started making bread in no time!
Baking with sourdough discard is one of my favorite things to do! You can make baked sourdough donuts, my favorite sourdough discard pancakes, and even sourdough crackers with herbs and olive oil crackers!
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Why You'll Love These Discard Peanut Butter Cookies
- They are easy to make! Mix up the dough, let it chill, and bake!
- They are full of peanut butter flavor! If you need a change from a chocolate filled recipe, these cookies are the perfect recipe! Just like 3 ingredient peanut butter blossoms, there's nothing better than a good peanut butter cookie!
- It's a great use of your leftover sourdough discard! Don't throw out your extra sourdough discard. Bake with it! It adds a slight tang to the cookies that can't be beat!
Ingredients For Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies
- Sourdough Starter. Inactive, or unfed. If you are new to sourdough baking, you can make your own sourdough starter, buy one, or get one from a sourdough friend!
- Peanut Butter. Your favorite brand of creamy peanut butter.
- Melted Butter. Unsalted or salted.
- Vanilla Extract.
- Brown Sugar
- White Sugar
- Eggs. Two large eggs.
- All Purpose Flour.
- Baking Soda and Baking Powder. Even though there is sourdough starter in the cookies, the baking soda and baking powder give the cookies a bit of a rise.
What is Sourdough Discard?
Sourdough discard is the portion of sourdough starter that you are not feeding. When you are "feeding" your starter to make bread with, you add equal parts flour, water, and starter to a mason jar and let it rise.
You can't feed your entire starter because that would cause way too much sourdough starter. It doubles and sometimes triples in size, and that's a lot of starter to have on hand! If you are new to sourdough, be sure to check out how to keep a sourdough starter post all about how to keep your sourdough starter happy.
Equipment You'll Need
- Stand Mixer
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Ice Cream Scoop
- Silicone Mat or Parchment Paper
- Baking Sheet
- Wire Cooling Rack
How To Make Sourdough Discard Peanut Butter Cookies
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set that aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. With the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until well mixed and light in color.
3. Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the bowl. Mix again.
4. Add the sourdough discard and peanut butter to the bowl. Mix again.
5. Carefully add the flour mixture to the stand mixer and mix until combined.
6. Add 1 cup of sugar to a bowl. With an ice cream scoop, scoop out the dough into the bowl of sugar. Roll the dough in the sugar and place the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Press a fork into the cookie dough to flatten the dough. Cross hatch the dough with another fork imprint.
8. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes and then take them off the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe Variations
- Add chocolate chips! Chocolate makes everything better! Add 1 ½ cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter.
- Use crunchy peanut butter! To add some more texture to the cookies, use crunchy peanut butter.
- Chop up peanuts! Just like crunchy peanut butter, salted peanuts will add a bit of salt and some crunch to the cookies.
- Add peanut butter chips! To increase the peanut butter flavor, use your favorite variety of peanut butter chips.
- Make them in the air fryer! Check out my friend Wendy's post about air fryer peanut butter cookies!
How to store peanut butter cookies:
Store your cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days to keep them soft and chewy. For longer storage, freeze the baked cookies in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months. Just let them thaw at room temperature before enjoying. You can also freeze the dough balls and bake them straight from the freezer, adding 1–2 extra minutes to the baking time.
Discard Peanut Butter Cookies FAQs
No! The sourdough discard adds a bit of a tang to the cookies, but they do not taste sour. If you want to up the sour flavor, chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator for a few hours, or overnight. That will enhance the sour flavor of these cookies.
Yes! You can make these cookies up to 3 days before. Place them in an airtight container to keep them fresh.
Yes! You can freeze the dough or the cookies. To freeze the dough, make the dough completely and then shape them into a log. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. To freeze the baked cookies, place the cooled cookies in a Ziploc bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
Yes! You will get a little bit more of a rise with active starter than you will with inactive starter.
Other Recipes To Try!
Did you love this Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe? If you did, don't forget to tag me on social media on Instagram or Facebook and share this recipe on Pinterest! Thanks for sharing this journey with me and enjoy these delicious recipes!
📖 Recipe
Chewy Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups All purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Butter Melted
- ½ cup Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar Plus for more rolling the cookie dough in
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Peanut Butter
- 1 cup Sourdough Starter Inactive not recently fed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Set that aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. With the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until well mixed and light in color.
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the bowl. Mix again.
- Add the sourdough discard and peanut butter to the bowl. Mix again.
- Carefully add the flour mixture to the stand mixer and mix until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
- Add 1 cup of sugar to a bowl. With an ice cream scoop, scoop out the dough into the bowl of sugar. Roll the dough in the sugar and place the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Press a fork into the cookie dough to flatten the dough. Cross hatch the dough with another fork imprint.
- Bake the cookies for 12 minutes and then take them off the baking sheet and cool on a wire rack.
Notes
- Add chocolate chips! Chocolate makes everything better! Add 1 ½ cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter.
- Use crunchy peanut butter! To add some more texture to the cookies, use crunchy peanut butter.
- Chop up peanuts! Just like crunchy peanut butter, salted peanuts will add a bit of salt and some crunch to the cookies.
- Add peanut butter chips! To increase the peanut butter flavor, use your favorite variety of peanut butter chips.
Katrina says
Easy to make but for me these were very bread like and not sweet enough. If you've ever tried peanut butter bread, they are similar to that. The texture was more similar to muffin than cookie.
Kathryn Knobel says
Looks so good. We have a sourdough starter.
Joni D. says
How much of a sourdough starter do you use? I don't make bread so not sure if this recipe would be something I should tackle. Recipe for starter too please??
Lynn Polito says
Hi! Sourdough starter is used to make sourdough bread, so if you don't make sourdough bread you likely don't have starter at home. It takes about a week or so to make one from scratch. I have some other peanut butter cookie recipes you might like such as peanut butter cookies with cake mix or peanut butter cookies with pancake mix.
Alex Bala says
Tackling food waste. I love this, what a great recipe, my husband loves these cookies. Thanks, Lynn you are so smart!
Jennifer says
Wow, who knew cookies could be so crazy good! These were amazing, and great use of sourdough starter!
Sachi says
My family is always begging me to bake cookies, since I don't really eat dessert I needed a good recipe. These cookies were a hit with my hubby and son.
Claire says
I always hated throwing away that bit of starter, so I love having a way to use it!
And these were delicious. Can't wait to make them again!
Linda says
This is my favorite peanut butter cookies recipe and adding a sourdough starter is a delicious idea!
Sherry says
There is nothing better than a peanut butter cookie and your cookie tastes AMAZING!!