Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

I consider these sour cream chocolate chip cookies the cookies of my dreams. And that’s saying a lot, since the Salted Banana Cookies consistently see my kitchen recipe rotation – but I just love these sour cream ones so much! And I think what I love about them is they deliver BIG on flavor, without needing much work, timing or stress put into them. These cookies don’t use brown butter (sacrilegious, I know), but it’s for good reason! Any nutty, toasty notes from brown butter would contrast with the tangy, creamy texture from the sour cream. Think of it as if you were pairing sage and cilantro, one is meant for cozy things, and one is meant for brighter, lighter flavors. Same with brown butter and sour cream, sometimes, they just don’t mix.

But the loss of brown butter in this recipe is our (and sour cream’s!) gain. That just means this recipe can come together in minutes, and since I don’t believe in making recipes that need chill time (because I have no chill), you’re only 30 minutes away from chocolate chip cookies – 20 if your oven is preheated!

So let’s get into these Sour Cream Cookies, because they have a lot to offer.

What does sour cream do in baking?

Sour cream performs multiple functions in baked goods. You usually see it in breads or savoy baking, where it acts as a tenderizer, leavener and flavor builder. But sour cream is also a very common ingredient in desserts and baking, where it serves the same purpose. Sour cream’s signature smooth, bright, tang is a highly desirable quality in a baked good, giving everything it touches a super unique flavor.

In this sour cream chocolate chip cookie specifically, it acts as an egg replacement, but it also give the cookie a really distinct, yet subtle, flavor. I don’t know how else to describe it other than cheese cake meets cookie. And if you don’t love that idea, well, then I’ll just have to tell you you might be missing out.

What makes these sour cream cookies different than normal chocolate chip cookies?

As stated above, these cookies don’t have egg. They just use sour cream in their place. This makes the fat ratio on these cookies slightly higher than your average dough, which gives the cookies a delightfully light crisp on the edges, but a soft, nearly gooey middle.

These cookies differ from standard chocolate chip cookies just because of that wonderfully unique flavor and texture – and it’s why it’s one of my favorite things to bake.

Ingredients you’ll need for these sour cream cookies

• Salted butter –  Salted butter is my favorite ingredient to talk about (and advocate for!) Don’t think of it as salt you can’t measure, think of it as butter that has extra flavor insurance. It’s actually much more common in other countries to use salted butter as the standard, it’s just in America where unsalted is more common.
• Light brown sugar – I usually opt for dark, but just like how we aren’t using brown butter in this recipe, light brown sugar is a better fit for the flavor profile of this cookie.
• Granulated sugar – this sugar is great for sweetness but also spread of the dough. I use more white sugar than brown in this recipe for that very reason. The high level of granulated sugar makes a thin cookie with nice, crisp edges.
• Sour cream – the main ingredient! We talk more about it in the above sections.
• Vanilla extract – this recipe uses a lot of vanilla, but for good reason! The tang of the sour cream works really nicely with vanilla extract. So don’t worry, the extra dash of vanilla is worth it.
• All-purpose flour – the queen of all flours. Full stop.
• Baking powder – baking powder is my preferred leavener, since it doesn’t need acid to perform a reaction. While sour cream is acidic, I still use baking powder in this recipe because I prefer the taste, and it also acts as a second layer of reassurance.
• Diamond Crystal kosher salt – we’ve been through this, but Diamond Crystal salt is my favorite brand on the market. And while this cookie feels like it calls for a significant amount of salt, it’s not a salty cookie. The salt just brings out the flavor, I promise.
• 60% cacoa dark chocolate – of course, you can always choose whatever chocolate calls to your heart. I support! But I chose this specific kind of chocolate because I think it balances the slight acidicness of the sour cream perfectly. It also makes it so the chocolate in this cookie is sweet, but not too overpoweringly sweet.

How to prepare these cookies

These cookies are insanely simple. While I call for a stand mixer, and electric hand mixer will work here well too!

• Preheat the oven to 375°F.
• In a stand mixer, beat together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, sour cream and vanilla extract until the mixture is a shade lighter in color, nearly doubke in size and very fluffy. About 3-4 minutes.
• Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the stand mixer and mix on the lowest setting until just combined.
• Add the chocolate to the dough, reserving a few big chunks for topping the cookies.
• Portion the cookies into equal 35 gram balls and place 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Indent the balls in the center, creating a well, then add a few chunks of chocolate to the top of each.
• Bake for 9-10 minutes. When the cookies are out of the oven, give them a few smacks on the counter to flatter them into evenly perfect discs.
• Let cool to firm up, then enjoy!

My biggest tip when baking chocolate chip cookies

My biggest tip with chocolate chip cookies is to take them out of the oven when they still look slightly underdone.

And this doesn’t just go for these sour cream chocolate chip cookies, it goes for any cookie! I’ll always remember my mom would make some truly terrible, dry and cakey cookies, and that was simply because 1) We were using the Nestle Tollhouse recipe and measuring with only cups LOL and 2) she was baking them until they were just a bit too done, which while they still taste great fresh out of the oven, they cool to a really dull, crumbly and dry texture.

This is because after you take cookies out of the oven, the residual heat from the pan will continue to “cook” the cookie. So as it cools it will set into a dough that is crispy on the outside, but still stays tender in the center for days. So trust the process, and don’t bake your cookies too long!

Why do I offer measurements in grams for this sour cream chocolate chip cookie recipe?

Baking, and bread especially, is a very finicky and exact science. The only way to ensure complete accuracy is through measuring by weight, and not volume. For example, a “cup” of flour could measure 120 grams or 160 grams depending on the day, and that’s a huge change to risk!

As much as I wish I could give you multiple ways to measure ingredients, in this recipe measuring by cups might cause some volatility and miss-matched results. I want to ensure you get the best results with this recipe (and I want to keep this recipe fool-proof!) so I highly recommend getting a small affordable kitchen scale if you want to move forward with this cookie recipe in the best way!

Looking for other cookie recipes?

Here are a few favorites from the blog!

And that’s it for these sour cream chocolate chip cookies!

If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.

And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you.