These gluten free sourdough chocolate chip cookies are a perfect way to use up your sourdough discard! They have a wonderful banana flavor with a walnut crunch in your every bite. A must try gluten free recipe!
What is Sourdough Discard?
Sourdough discard is the excess sourdough starter that you need to get rid of every time you feed it. If you don’t have sourdough starter you can easily make one with only water and flour! Or you can also make these gluten free sourdough chocolate chip cookies recipe without the discard.
You Will Need
- Mixing bowls
- Mixer (you can mix by hand, too)
- Rubber spatula
- Baking paper (or just grease your baking sheet)
Ingredients for Gluten Free Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gluten Free Flour – you can use any mix you like, I used a mix of white rice and corn flours with some potato starch.
Xanthan gum – this is the binding agent for your cookies since we kicked all the gluten out!
Gluten Free Sourdough Starter – if you don’t have sourdough starter, you can make one from simply mixing flour and water (but it does need a day or two to sit). Check my simple recipe for gluten free sourdough starter.
Sourdough discard does NOT make your cookies sour! It just makes them softer.
Bananas – ripe or not.
Chocolate chip – I used dark chocolate chip, but you can use any kind you like! Mix milk and dark chocolate chips for better flavor.
Sugar – I used both brown and white sugar in this recipe.
Walnuts – if you want some crunch to your cookies!
Baking soda – so that your cookies spread a bit while baking.
Salt – brings out the sweetness!
Butter – to make the cookies soft and tender.
Egg – is a binding agent for gluten free cookies as well as a moisturizer!
Vanilla – for even more flavor.
Measurements
- 310 grams (about 2 and ¼ cups) gluten free flour
- 1 tsp xanthan gum (if your mix doesn’t have it)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 150 grams (2/3 cup) butter (if use salted, then decrease salt amount above) – room temp.
- 100 grams (½ cup) white sugar
- 100 grams (½ cup) brown sugar (light or dark)
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- 1.5 tsp vanilla
- 265 grams (1 cup) gluten free sourdough starter (fed or unfed)
- 250 grams chocolate chips
- 80 grams walnuts
Video Instructions
Step by Step Instructions
STEP 1
Mash bananas with a potato masher or a fork. They will mash easier if ripe, but you can use any bananas for this recipe! If your walnuts are whole, you can break them up now. This recipe calls for a room temperature egg, so if yours is straight out of the fridge – just place it into a cup with warm water until called for!
STEP 2
Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and xanthan gum in one bowl and mix. It is important to mix xanthan gum and baking soda with the flour before adding any liquids.
STEP 3
Break up your butter (or cut it up) into small cubes. Breaking it up with your hands will also warm up the butter if it is a bit cold. Add the sugars and mix until creamy. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides between mixing sessions.
Then add the egg and vanilla to the mixture and mix until incorporated. Finally, add the mashed banana and sourdough discard and mix until fully combined.
STEP 4
Add the flour mix to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix well. Then, using a rubber spatula, fold in the walnuts and the chocolate chunks.
STEP 5
Cover the dough and place into the fridge for at least 6 hours. *You can bake the cookies right away, but they will be better after some cooling time!
STEP 6
Preheat your oven to 350F / 175C. Shape the dough into medium size balls and place onto the baking sheet lined with baking paper.
If you don’t want to use baking paper, just grease the baking sheet with some butter or margarine! Bake for 10-12 minutes, then transfer to the cooling rack.
Cool for 10 minutes before eating (if you can wait that long!)
Tips for Success
- Use kitchen scale;
- Use room temperature egg and butter;
- Rice flour is a good choice for this recipe, but you can experiment and choose your favorite blend!
- You can add raisins or other nuts as well as different types of chocolate chips.
- Chill your dough. I know, it is hard to let that cookie dough goodness just sit in the fridge for hours on end, but you will be rewarded for your patience! However, you totally can omit the waiting time and bake the cookies right away if you absolutely need to!
- Use an ice cream scooper to have all cookies the same size as it will ensure even baking.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Best Flour to Use for Gluten Free Cookies?
In my recipes I frequently use a mix of rice and corn flour, but corn flour does add cakiness to your cookies. So, if you want your cookies to be more light and less cakey, you might want to try using rice flour only. Although there are so many flour types to add to the mix that it is hard to tell which one is best. You might want to experiment with different ones to find your perfect blend!
How to Make Gluten Free Cookies Moist?
You can add more milk, sour cream, or yogurt to the dough to make your gluten free cookies a bit more moist.
Do Gluten Free Cookies Need Xanthan Gum?
Yes and no. Since gluten is not present to bind the cookies together you will end up with something like a sand castle if you don’t add some binding agent to your dough.
Xanthan gum is just one of the ingredients you can use to achieve that result. You can also use psyllium husk, guar gum, or simply add more eggs as they also serve as a binding agent.
I made GF cookies and bread before without using any xanthan gum and they turned out fine although it was a bit more tricky to keep them from falling apart!
Can You Just Replace All Purpose Flour with Gluten Free Flour?
In a lot of recipes you can, although gluten free flour requires more liquid. So, if you do substitute all purpose for gluten free, add some more moisture to your dough! And don’t forget adding some sort of a binding agent.
Can I Freeze Gluten Free Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies?
Yes! Just wait until they are cooled down and then place them into an airtight bag. Freeze up to a year! They might need a bit more baking time after thawing.
Final Thoughts
Let me know in the comments below how your cookies turned out and what is your favorite flour blend for gluten free baking! If there are any questions I did not cover that you still have, please ask in the comment section!
Recipe Recap
Equipment
- 1 mixer
- 1 rubber spatula
- 1 large mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 310 grams (2 and 1/4 cup) gluten free flour
- 1 tsp xanthan gum skip if your blend already contains it
- 1/2 tsp baking soda add more if you want your cookies spread more
- 1 tsp salt
- 150 grams (2/3 cup) unsalted butter room temperature
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) white sugar
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar light or dark
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 265 grams (1 cup) gluten free sourdough starter fed or unfed
- 250 grams chocolate chip use a mix of dark and semi dark for deeper flavor
- 80 grams walnuts
Instructions
- Mash bananas with a potato masher or a fork. They will mash easier if ripe, but you can use any bananas for this recipe! If your walnuts are whole, you can break them up now. This recipe calls for a room temperature egg, so if yours is straight out of the fridge – just place it into a cup with warm water until called for!
- Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and xanthan gum in one bowl and mix. It is important to mix xanthan gum and baking soda with the flour before adding any liquids.
- Break up your butter (or cut it up) into small cubes. Breaking it up with your hands will also warm up the butter if it is a bit cold. Add the sugars and mix until creamy. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides between mixing sessions. Then add the egg and vanilla to the mixture and mix until incorporated. Finally, add the mashed banana and sourdough discard and mix until fully combined.
- Add the flour mix to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix well. Then, using a rubber spatula, fold in the walnuts and the chocolate chunks.
- Cover the dough and place into the fridge for at least 6 hours. *You can bake the cookies right away, but they will be better after some cooling time!
- Preheat your oven to 350F / 175C. Shape the dough into medium size balls and place onto the baking sheet lined with baking paper. If you don’t want to use baking paper, just grease the baking sheet with some butter or margarine! Bake for 10-12 minutes, then transfer to the cooling rack.
- Cool for 10 minutes before eating (if you can wait that long!)
