You probably didn’t know there was anything cozier than a caramel apple in the fall, until now! Once you try these Caramel Apple Sourdough Cookies, they’ll be a staple in your home all season long. With sweet and tart apples, chunky salted caramel chips, and that classic sourdough taste, these cookies are sure to keep you and your family coming back for more!

Supplies

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed (290g)
1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature (113g)
1/2 cup sourdough starter discard, stirred down (150g)
2 large egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla extract (10g)
1/2 tsp. sea salt (3g)
1 tbsp. apple pie spice (or 2 tsp. cinnamon and 1 tsp. nutmeg)
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (210g)
1 tsp. baking soda (6g)
2oz bag dried apples (I like red and green apples mixed) (70g)
7 oz. salted caramel baking chips (200g)
(Optional) For extra caramel, you can top baked cookies with Homemade Maple Caramel Sauce just before serving!

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl or bowl of your stand mixer, cream the brown sugar and soft butter together until well combined. Add the sourdough starter discard, egg yolks, vanilla extract, salt, and spices, and beat well to combine.
Add the all-purpose flour, and slowly mix until almost combined. Sprinkle in the baking soda, and stir just until combined (be careful not to over-mix the dough).
Lightly crush the dried apples in the package, and then add them in. Stir to distribute, again being careful not to over-mix.
Use a large dough scoop to evenly space 6 scoops of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Be sure to leave space between them for spreading. This recipe makes about 12-14 jumbo cookies.
Top each scoop generously with the caramel baking chips.
Bake for 14-17 minutes, or until the edges are slightly crisp and the center is baked but still soft. You may choose to bake a little longer for a crunchier cookie.
Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for about 7 minutes before transferring to a c ooling rack. Enjoy!

Substitutions

If you don’t have salted caramel chips, you can use butterscotch chips, or just top the baked caramel apple sourdough cookies with Homemade Maple Caramel Sauce! Note that the sauce isn’t very thick and doesn’t solidify, so you will want to drizzle over cookies right before serving.
You can substitute dark brown sugar for the light brown sugar if that is what you have on hand.
If you only have unsalted butter, you can use it in place of the salted butter, and then just add 1/4 tsp. additional salt to the recipe.
If all you have is active sourdough starter, you can use it in the recipe! Just make sure to stir it down before measuring.

Can I freeze sourdough cookie dough?

Absolutely! To freeze, you can scoop the cookie dough balls into a gallon freezer ziplock bag. Be sure to leave enough space between each ball so they do not smush together. You can freeze the dough for up to a couple of months! If you are going to bake directly from frozen, be sure to add 1-3 minutes to the baking time.

You can even do your future self a favor and double the recipe so that you can bake half of it now and freeze the rest for later! Then in the future, you can remove as many dough balls from the freezer as you’d like, and bake straight from frozen. I sometimes bake just 2 at a time so we have an easy and clean-ingredient desert when that sweet tooth hits!

How to Make Long Fermented Caramel Apple Sourdough Cookies

In order to make long-fermented cookies, you will need to make the dough in advance. Simply follow the directions to make the dough, but then cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-4 days. This allows enough time for the sourdough starter to ferment the dough, providing both flavor and health benefits!

When it comes time to bake the cookies, you have two options. You can either bake the dough from cold straight out of the fridge (resulting in a thicker and more cake-like cookie), or you can let the dough sit at room temperature for about an hour before baking (resulting in a thinner and chewier cookie, similar to baking right after making the dough).