Sourdough Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Rye and Espresso

sourdough chocolate chunk cookie

Meet the newest member of CTD chocolate chunk cookie family! This particular recipe was designed to use up sourdough starter and be a relatively quick bake (i.e. no softening of ingredients, no mandatory long resting). But don’t worry, they are positively packed with flavor and are poised become the new most-frequent impulse bake in this house (toss up between this and the sourdough chocolate cake)!

If you’ve baked the salted chocolate chunk cookie from my book, this recipe will seem familiar to you. We’re featuring the same heavy hitters: browned butter, rye flour, espresso. However, I’ve tweaked the proportions a touch to reflect my current cookie preferences: slightly thinner but still chewy with crisp edges.

To chill or not to chill

That is the million dollar cookie question, isn’t it? Many bakers swear by “ripening” their cookie dough for 24 or even up to 72 hours for improved texture and flavor.

For this particular cookie, I suggest chilling for a minimum of 30-45 minutes — this helps to resolidify the butter and control spreading. If you’re in a real hurry, you can flatten the dough to help it chill faster or even stick it in the freezer. Thanks to all the flavor bombs in the dough, you will get tasty cookies.

But if you have the patience, chilling the dough for a full 24 hours does pay off with a more complex, harmonious flavor and a thicker, fudgier texture. (Beyond 24 hours I don’t detect a noticeable enough difference to warrant the extra time.) It’s similar to the difference between meat that’s been seasoned and then cooked right away versus something that’s had time to marinate overnight. You can enjoy and be satisfied by both, but the one with the longer marination just tastes better. I usually bake a couple off for instant gratification and keep the rest in the fridge for a full rest.

Here’s a quick video so you can see the difference between the 45 minute vs 24 hour chill. Top cookies had a 45 minute chill; bottom had 24 hours.

And a cross section! 24 hour chill on the left, 45 minute chill on the right.

You can also freeze portioned dough for longer storage. If you like super thick cookies you can bake directly from frozen, but I prefer to let the unbaked dough sit out at room temperature for 20-30 minutes (about the time it takes to preheat the oven) for better spread.

Chocolate selection

I really enjoy a mix of white and dark (but not too dark) chocolate in this cookie. Mixing up the chocolates makes for more interesting eating, and the white chocolate helps balance out the intensity of the brown butter, espresso, and rye. But I think all milk or even caramelized white chocolate would taste great in this dough base too! Use what you have and like.

I prefer using chopped chocolate or callets rather than chocolate chips for better taste and spread. (You don’t need to chop the callets if they’re on the small side; I usually use Callebaut callets and toss them straight into the dough.)

OK, on to the recipe!

sourdough chocolate chunk cookie

Sourdough Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Rye and Espresso

Yield: 1 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Chilling Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 12 minutes

Rich, flavorful chocolate chunk cookies made with sourdough discard.

Ingredients

  • 115g unsalted butter, cold and cubed
  • 1 tsp espresso powder
  • 10g freshly brewed coffee (can sub milk or water)
  • 85g light brown sugar
  • 85g granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg yolk, cold
  • 80g sourdough discard (100% hydration), cold
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100g all purpose flour
  • 45g rye flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 70g chopped white chocolate
  • 70g chopped bittersweet chocolate (I like 55-65%)
  • Flaky salt, for garnish (optional)
  • Additional chocolate, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  1. To brown the butter, place the butter in a small, light-colored saucepan over low-medium heat. Once the butter has melted, turn the heat up to medium-high. Stir frequently with a heatproof spatula, scraping the sides and bottom of the pan as needed. The butter will crackle, foam, turn clear gold, then finally start browning. It’s done when the crackling subsides and you smell toasted nuts. This process takes about 7-10 minutes total, but the butter can go from browned to burnt in a flash—so keep an eye on it. Scrape the butter and all the toasty bits into a large bowl and stir in the espresso powder and coffee -- this helps infuse the butter with extra coffee flavor. Let cool until tepid, about 10 minutes.
  2. Whisk the sugars into the butter until smooth and combined, followed by the egg yolk, sourdough starter, and vanilla. The mixture should be viscous and homogenous, with no streaks of visible starter. 
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold together until just combined. When just a few streaks of flour remain, add the chocolate, and mix until evenly distributed.
  4. Cover and chill the dough for 45-60 minutes, or until cool to the touch. (You can leave the dough in the bowl where it was mixed, but transferring it to plastic wrap and flattening to a 1” slab will quicken the cooling process.) Alternatively, the dough can be chilled for up to 24 hours or frozen for longer storage. (They will spread less and may require an extra minute or two of baking time.)
  5. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) with a rack in the middle and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  6. Portion the dough into twelve equal balls, about 54g each. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets about 2½ inches apart and sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt.
  7. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops are set and no longer shiny, about 12 to 14 minutes. Rotate the sheet in the oven halfway through baking. Right after the cookies come out of the oven, use a large round cookie cutter to nudge them into perfectly round circles, if desired. Top with a few pieces of chopped chocolate for garnish.
  8. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Notes

Recipe adapted from Baked to Order.

sourdough chocolate chunk cookie

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Very Strawberry Pavlova

strawberry pavlova

Is there any dessert more elegant than pavlova, with its billowy meringue, clouds of whipped cream, and colorful toppings? Named after the ballerina Anna Pavlova (I won’t get into the heated discussion of its origin country), pavlova is a study in contrasts. The outer layer of meringue is shatteringly crisp, giving way to soft and mallowy innards. It begs to be topped with heaps of softly whipped cream and the juiciest of fruit.

While a stark white pavlova is a thing of beauty, I wanted to play around with adding color and flavor to the meringue itself with ground freeze-dried berries. Thus this very strawberry pavlova was born!

Pavlova isn’t difficult to make, though the process can seem daunting until you’ve given it a couple of tries. Here are my tips for getting the best results for your pavlova.

Tips for Pavlova Success

  1. Use fresh, clean egg whites. We want maximum volume for the extra billowy meringue. Fresh (not boxed) egg whites will give you the most stable and voluminous foam. Make sure there are no traces of egg yolk; any fat will prevent the meringue from whipping up properly. (Your bowl and beaters should be squeaky clean, too.) Room temperature whites will whip up and dissolve sugar more quickly, so I leave mine at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before starting.
  2. Beat meringue on medium speed. I like to make pavlova using French meringue as I think it creates the lightest and potentially most voluminous meringue, when correctly made. French meringue is often called the simplest of the three meringue styles, as it doesn’t involve using a double boiler (Swiss meringue) or making a sugar syrup (Italian meringue). However, French meringue is the least stable of the meringues and can easy overwhip or collapse. To counteract this, I whip the meringue on no higher than medium speed the entire time. Whipping on high speed will create volume quickly, but you end up with a meringue with lots of big and frothy air bubbles that are more prone to rising and collapsing in the oven, resulting in cracks. Beating on a lower speed for longer creates a mesh of very fine and even bubbles, creating a structure that is strong and stable. This is what we want!
  3. Sugar: keep it fine and add it slowly. I recommend using superfine or caster sugar for making the meringue — its small crystals dissolve more quickly and easily than regular granulated sugar. (I make my own superfine sugar by blitzing regular sugar in a food processor for about a minute.) Also important — wait until the meringue reaches soft peaks before adding the sugar; and add it gradually — a spoonful at a time, waiting a good 10 seconds between additions. Adding the sugar too soon or too quickly can overwhelm the delicate meringue, inhibiting it from expanding to its full potential. You’ll know your meringue is ready when the mixture is stiff and glossy and you don’t feel any grittiness when you rub a bit of the meringue between your fingers. Sugar that isn’t completely dissolved can lead to weeping (leaking sugar syrup) during or after baking, so take your time!
  4. Baking takes time… Pavlovas need a low, slow bake to dry sufficiently — in my oven for this particular recipe about 80-90 minutes, but keep in mind that all ovens are different and you may need to adjust. I bake mine on a pizza stone to help retain oven heat and crisp the bottom (awesome tip from Nicola Lamb). Try not to open the oven door until the very end; the delicate structure may deflate if exposed to sudden temperature changes. Use the oven light if you’re curious!
  5. …And so does cooling. Ideally, pavlovas are also given enough time to cool completely in the oven. I like to make my pavlova shells right before bed, leaving them in the oven to cool overnight so the structure has plenty of time to set and minimize cracks from cooling too fast.
  6. Fill at the last minute. Due to their high sugar content, pavlovas are hygroscopic — they want to absorb moisture from anything around it. Once you add cream and fruit, it’s only a matter of time before the shell will start to soften from the moisture of the toppings. Pavlova is best enjoyed immediately after filling (or at most, an hour or two after filling).

One last thing: CRACKS HAPPEN, even if you do everything right. While dramatic cracking during baking or cracks that compromise the structure of the shape suggest problems with either the meringue or baking, it is totally normal to have a few small ones here and there, especially around the hollowed area. Don’t worry about it! This is what the fillings are for.

strawberry pavlova

Very Strawberry Pavlova

Yield: 1 medium pavlova (Serves ~6)
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Cooling Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 50 minutes

A stunning pink strawberry pavlova, naturally flavored with freeze-dried strawberries.

Ingredients

For the strawberry pavlova shell:

  • 105g egg whites (from about 3 large eggs), at room temperature
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 170g superfine or caster sugar
  • 5g (1 tsp) vinegar or lemon juice
  • 5g (2 tsp) cornstarch
  • 15g freeze-dried strawberry powder
  • Drop of gel pink food coloring (optional)

For topping:

  • Lots of berries or other tart fresh fruit, sliced if large
  • 1-2 Tbsp granulated sugar (optional)
  • 200g heavy cream (35%)
  • 60g buttermilk (or substitute yogurt, sour cream, or additional heavy cream)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven: Preheat the oven to 275F with a rack in the lower third. If you have a pizza stone, place this on the rack while the oven is preheating. Alternatively, you can preheat a large baking sheet. This will help the bottom of the pavlova crisp nicely.
  2. Prepare the baking sheet: Trace a 6" circle on a piece of parchment paper. Place the parchment paper, ink side down, on a baking sheet.
  3. Make the strawberry pavlova shell: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites, cream of tarter, and salt. Mix on low to combine, then raise the speed to medium (5 on a Kitchenaid mixer) and whisk until soft peaks.
  4. Once the meringue has reached soft peaks, turn the mixer to medium-low (4 on a Kitchenaid) and add the sugar a teaspoon at a time, waiting about 10 seconds between each addition. It will take several minutes to add the sugar. Be patient; adding the sugar too quickly can cause the meringue to deflate and not reach optimal volume. Once all the sugar has been added, stop briefly and scrape down the bowl with a clean spatula to make sure no sugar is stuck on the sides. Then continue mixing on medium-low/medium speed (4 or 5 on a Kitchenaid) until the meringue is stiff and glossy and the sugar is fully dissolved. If you rub a little bit of meringue between your fingers, you shouldn't feel any granules of sugar. This usually takes me anywhere from 5-10 minutes, but the timing can vary depending on your sugar granule size and the condition of your egg whites. Go by look and feel rather than time.
  5. Pour in the vinegar or lemon juice and sift in the cornstarch, then mix on medium-high speed (6 on a Kitchenaid) for 20-30 seconds to combine. Add the freeze-dried strawberries and food coloring (if using), and mix on medium for a final 20-30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a flexible spatula and fold the mixture a few times to ensure everything is well combined.
  6. Shape the pavlova: Scrape the meringue into the center of the circle and use an offset spatula to shape it into a cylinder, keeping it within the drawn guide. Make a well in the center (this is where your toppings will go), then swipe your spatula or a spoon vertically around the pavlova to make decorative furrows. You can make these rather deep as the lines will lose some definition during baking.
  7. Bake the pavlova: Place the baking sheet onto the preheated baking stone or sheet and immediately turn the oven down to 220F. Bake the pavlova for 80 minutes without opening the oven door. At this point, the outside of the pavlova should be matte and dry to the touch and release from the paper (but be careful, when lifting; it's delicate!). If not, bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until dry. Turn off the heat and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the closed oven, at least 3 hours and preferably overnight.
  8. Carefully slide an offset spatula under the base of the cooled pavlova and transfer it to an airtight container until ready to serve.
  9. Make the topping: About 30 minutes before serving, toss a couple handfuls of berries with 1-2 Tbsp sugar to macerate, if desired (this will pull the juices out of the fruit which you can decoratively drizzle over the top). Right before serving, combine the cream and buttermilk in a medium bowl and whip until medium-soft peaks. Pile the cream into the center of the pavlova and top generously with fruit. Drizzle with fruit juices if desired. Serve immediately.

Notes

Make your own superfine sugar by blitzing regular granulated sugar in a food processor for about one minute, or until fine but not powdery.

Freeze-dried strawberry powder can be purchased online or at some specialty food stores. You can also make your own by grinding whole freeze-dried strawberries, though I recommend doing this right before mixing the meringue to minimize clumping.

In a dry environment, unfilled pavlova shells can be stored for a few days in an airtight container. However, the more humid your environment the more quickly the shell will start to soften.

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