Light and Fluffy Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies
My sourdough peanut butter cookies are my husband's favorite! They're light and fluffy and easy enough to make any day of the week. The additional egg yolk and using a fork to mix, gives them the perfect texture. It always makes me so happy when I whip up a batch of these cookies and I see Tyler's smile! I hope these cookies make someone in your life smile like they have in mine!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup light brown cane sugar, packed
- 3 Tbsp melted butter
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup all natural, unsweetened, unsalted, creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup sourdough discard (AKA unfed starter)
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, add melted butter and brown sugar. Use a fork to mash together for 1 minutes
- Add in egg and egg yolk and mix with fork until completely combined.
- Add in milk, vanilla, peanut butter, sourdough discard, sea salt, baking soda, and baking powder. (Wait to add baking powder if you’re doing the optional cold ferment step below). Mix just until combined with a fork.
- Add in flour and mix just until combined with a fork. The dough will be sticky, this is what you want!
- Optional – At this point you can either continue the recipe or place the dough, covered, in the fridge for 12-24 hours to long ferment for more sourdough fermentation benefits. When you’re ready to continue the recipe stir in the baking powder just before baking.
- To continue the recipe use a 1 Tbsp (or 1.5 Tbsp) cookie scoop to scoop cookie dough onto the parchment lined pan.
- Use your hands to roll each scoop into a ball.
- Make sure the cookies are 2 inches apart.
- Use a fork to gently press each ball of cookie dough flat then do it again the other way for the iconic peanut butter cookie look. Dip your fork in brown sugar or flour if it keeps sticking to the cookies.
- Bake cookies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 minutes for slightly underbaked cookies or 10 minutes for fully baked fluffy cookies. Eitherway cookies will be soft when you pull them out, avoid overbaking.
- Take cookies off the pan and place on a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!
Notes
Please see blog post for all kinds of helpful tips and storage information. You can double this recipe as many times as you'd like.
Egg Yolk Note - The additional egg yolk gives these cookies that light and fluffy texture! Leaving the 2nd egg white out helps keep them from drying out.
Peanut Butter Note - Natural, unsweetened, creamy peanut butter is the best to use! By using this kind, you get to adjust how much sugar and salt go into your cookies plus you're keeping additives out. I like to use Costco's Kirkland natural peanut butter or the Teddie All Natural brand at Walmart, but you can use any brand you desire. Different brands of peanut butter will create a different peanut butter flavor.
Sourdough Baking Disclaimer - I regularly feed my sourdough starter a 2:1 ratio of unbleached flour to filtered water, this creates a 50% hydrated starter even when I use discard. If you feed your starter differently, results may vary due to a different hydration which will cause a different consistency. No matter how you feed your starter just ensure it’s a thick consistency when you use it for my recipes even if you’re using discard.
Did you make this recipe? - Please leave a comment below or share a photo on social media! If you share a photo be sure to tag me @plumbranchhome
This recipe was developed from scratch in my kitchen by me, Molly LaFontaine, and tested many times by my husband and me to ensure success. Just like all of my recipes on Plum Branch Home. They’re created with purpose, cherished in our own home, and developed with my experiences, trial and error, and skills. NEVER AI (artificial intelligence). Here at Plum Branch Home we’re loving our families and serving God one recipe at a time!