These sourdough malted chai chocolate chip cookies are sweet, chewy, and packed with warm chai flavors and rich dark chocolate. The extra chewiness is thanks to the inclusion of sourdough discard, brown sugar, and malt milk powder.
These chai cookies are perfect for fall and winter. Pair these with my sourdough snickerdoodles, sourdough oatmeal cookies, sourdough peanut butter cookies, or my double chocolate stuffed cookies for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Looking for more fall treats? Try my pumpkin banana bread muffins!
I am personally a huge fan of anything malted. I grew up on Ovaltine— I must confess that I still drink it regularly!!
Ingredients
These sourdough cookies use simple ingredients that you'll be able to find at your local grocer.
- Brown Sugar
- Cane sugar
- Unsalted Butter
- All-Purpose Flour
- Sourdough Discard
- Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Chai Seasoning Mix (ingredients in recipe card)
- Salt
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Malted Milk Powder
- Chocolate Chips
Instructions
Step 1: Mix wet ingredients.
Step 2: Mix in dry ingredients.
Step 3: Stir in chopped chocolate. Chill for 30 mins to an hour before baking at 350F.
Step 4: Bake for 11-12 mins then enjoy after cooling.
Equipment
Substitutions
If some of these ingredients don't work for you, that's okay! Here are some of my tried and true baking substitutions:
- Butter: Use a non-dairy butter like Country Crock's plant butter. A neutral oil (like coconut oil) would work well here too!
- Note: this butter is salted, so you might want to use a little less salt in the rest of the dough. I normally don't find the need to adjust it when using salted butter, but if you are sensitive to salt, you might want to cut the additional salt in half to start.
Variations
Chocolate - Add ¼ of a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder to the recipe with the dry ingredients. (add 1-2 tablespoon of milk if batter is too dry).
FAQ
Absolutely!! In fact, this would probably result in a fluffier cookie.
Sure thing! You might need to add 2-3 tablespoons of flour to compensate for it. Ive made this recipe without a starter and didn't need to adjust anything! It just depends on the type of flour you are using, your climate, and the hydration of your starter.
This is a slightly "wet" dough. It won't be easy to handle without getting it on your fingers, but it won't be overly wet either. I definitely recommend using a cookie scoop and chilling your dough before baking. This will make it much easier to shape.
The use of malted milk powder is for the added depth of flavor and it creates a chewier cookie.
Chai is a combination of seasonings, including cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice. Finding pre-mixed chai spice at your local store isn't always easy, but it is super easy to make!
Try more of my fall recipes
Malted Chai Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sourdough Discard
Equipment
- Stand Mixer Optional.
- mixing bowl If not using a stand mixer.
- Kitchen Scale Optional, but recommended.
- Cooling rack
- Lined baking sheet
Ingredients
Chai Spice Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoon Ginger
- 1.5 tablespoon Cinnamon
- 2.5 teaspoon Cardamom
- 2 teaspoon Cloves
- 2 teaspoon Allspice
- 2 teaspoon Nutmeg
Malted Chai Chocolate Chip Cookies
- ½ Cup Unsalted Butter melted and cooled
- ¾ Cup Packed Brown Sugar 165g
- ½ Cup Cane sugar 100g
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- ⅓ Cup Sourdough Starter (100g, fed or unfed)
- 1 Egg room temperature
- 2 ½ Cup All-Purpose Flour 300g
- ⅓ Cup Malted Milk Powder 47g
- 1 teaspoon Chai Spice mix
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ Tsp Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 ½ Bars Dark Chocolate Bar 115g chopped
Instructions
- Mix sugars and melted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or mixing bowl.
- Add in sourdough discard, vanilla, and egg. Mix until combined.
- Slowly add in flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, malted milk powder, chai spice. Mix until combined. Stir in chopped chocolate or chocolate chips.
- Allow dough to chill in the refrigerator for 30 mins to an hour. Just before you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- With a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out cookie dough balls and place them on a lined baking sheet. Bake on the middle rack for 11-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to brown and the tops look just set.
- Allow to cool on the pan for 5-10 mins before transferring to a cooling rack.
Notes
- Use all room-temperature ingredients if possible. This will make the ingredients easier to mix, resulting in a more consistent dough and cookie.
- Cookies are done when the edges are starting to brown. The center should look mostly flat and not shiny. It likely won't look "done", but still take them out. They will finish baking while cooling.
- Store at room temp for 3-5 days. Freeze for up to 6 months.
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