Sourdough Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with Orange & Sea Salt

Winter Edition — A Year of Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Indulgent sourdough double chocolate chip cookies made with freshly milled soft wheat flour, orange and sea-salt. Classic cookies with crispy edges, soft centers and rich dark chocolate. Bake right away or cold-ferment for up to 48 hours.

Hi, my name is Sarah, and I’m addicted to all things chocolate and orange!

I remember the first time I ate a piece of Apelsinkrokant chocolate as a little girl. It didn’t only taste delicious, it made sense. I’m sure everyone has that one flavor they’re magically drawn to. This is mine.

I’ve shared sourdough chocolate chip cookies on this blog before. They’ve been the long-fermented kind, with surprisingly complex flavors, and a texture that leans modern bakery-style, with crispy edges and cakey centers.

But whenever my thoughts turn to double chocolate chip cookies, all I can think of are those old-school, flat, crispy-edged, chewy cookies. The kind I fell in love with as a teenager when a coffee shop opened right across my school, serving only American-style treats.

It took quite a few attempts to get these right. but I finally cracked the code to flat, crispy, fresh-milled double chocolate chip cookies. And I’m here to share.

Why You’ll Love These Fresh-Milled Cookies

Let’s be honest.

To some, fresh-milled flour is the perfect food. Others struggle with it, because they have a hard time letting go of familiar tastes and textures. But with these sourdough chocolate cookies, you can actually get both: the familiar, deeply indulgent taste and texture of a classic chocolate chip cookie, but also that satisfying feeling of having eaten food.

So instead of trying to convince you that I magically fermented a double chocolate cookie into health food, let me just tell you this: These cookies are incredible.

They’re the old-school kind, typically found in a tall glass jar in your favorite coffee shop. The ones that spread thin, crisp up around the edges, stay soft in the middle, and leave a confident grease stain.

With dark Dutch-process cocoa powder, bright orange zest and just the right balance of sea salt, they carry the flavor of my forever favorite chocolate bar.

And using up a scoop of sourdough discard while you’re at it?

Worth it. Every time.

Tools You May Need

Digital Kitchen Scales or Measuring Cups Your kitchen, your call. Weighing ingredients delivers more reliable results than volume measurements though.

Unbleached Baking Paper

#50 Cookie Scoop
Holding 1.5 tablespoons of batter, a #50 scoop is my preferred tool for making sensibly sized double chocolate chip sourdough cookies.

Cooling Rack
It takes a while for all the melted chocolate to cool down completely, before you can store the cookies. Cooling racks make life a lot easier here.

Important Ingredients & Substitutions

Soft Wheat Flour Fresh-milled soft wheat flour is the best choice for baking cookies. It has less gluten-forming proteins, so you don’t run the risk of over mixing the batter and ending up with tough cookies.
If you’re not milling flour at home (yet), whole wheat pastry flour is the closest match in the U.S. In Europe, any whole wheat flour can be used in place of fresh-milled soft wheat.

Corn Starch
To achieve the classic spread, we need a little corn starch (corn flour in the UK) to weaken the structure of the batter and make the cookies collapse in on themselves during baking. It also makes the edges crispier and the texture softer than regular whole wheat cookies.

Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder
Dutch processed is dark and rich. Don’t swap natural cocoa powder, as it will change the acidity of the batter.

Light Brown Sugar (American-Style)
American light brown sugar is “wet” compared to the dry, granulated brown sugar in Germany. Though they often behave similar enough in baking, you really need American-style brown sugar for classic chocolate chip cookies.
Tip: You can make your own light brown sugar by stirring 1 tablespoon (20g) of molasses or sugar beet syrup into 1 cup of granulated white sugar.

Orange
We need both the zest and a little juice, so choose organic if possible.

Egg Yolk
One yolk is enough to act as a binder, without creating fluffy domes instead of flat, crispy cookies.

Dark Chocolate Chunks
Use dark chocolate chips, chunks, or a chopped chocolate bar (I like 70% cacao). If you love a chunky texture, use a bake stable chocolate.

Fine Sea Salt
Weighing salt may seem a little excessive, but depending on coarseness and brand, one teaspoon can taste a lot saltier than the next. Saltiness per weight is a lot more reliable.

Flaky Sea Salt (optional)
If you like a little extra salty crunch, you can sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt before baking.

How to Make Sourdough Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with Fresh-Milled Flour

Step 01

Measure whole soft wheat berries and mill them on the finest setting of your grain mill. Add corn starch, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine and set aside.

Step 02

Melt butter and set aside to cool until warm if necessary.
In a small bowl rub the orange zest into the white sugar with your fingertips until fragrant.

Step 03

Whisk the orange sugar and light brown sugar into the warm butter until just combined. Stir in the orange juice, egg yolk, and sourdough discard until combined.
Avoid over whipping.

Step 04

Add the dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Stir until halfway combined, then add the dark chocolate chunks and fold in until flour and chocolate are well incorporated. The batter should be smooth and glossy.
Cover and rest the batter for at least 20–30 minutes at room temperature (or up to 48 hours in the fridge).

Step 05

Preheat the oven to 185°C/365°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop about 1½ tablespoon mounds of batter and leave at least 2cm/5 inches space in between.
Sprinkle with flaky sea salt (optional), and bake on the lower middle rack for 8-12 minutes.

Step 06

Cookies are done when the edges feel set and firm to the touch, but the middles are still a little soft and puffy. Rest them on the hot baking sheet for 3-5 minutes to finish setting, then transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

Variations

How to Store & Freeze Sourdough Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe FAQs

If you make these fresh-milled sourdough double chocolate chip cookies…

I’d love to hear how they turned out!

P.S. If you’ enjoyed this recipe, check out the whole A Year Of Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies Series!