Chocolate Chip Sourdough Muffins (Lunchbox Size, Added Fiber)

This rich recipe for my chocolate chip sourdough muffins with brown butter is one of my favorite ways to use sourdough discard.

Growing up and living in South Africa has made me incredibly conscious of food waste. As a fan of baking sourdough bread for my family, I can't bring myself to chuck out extra sourdough discard. So when I have extra, I'll make these sourdough chocolate chip muffins.

As a mom with a busy home, I'm passionate about eating for perimenopause and cooking in way that supports me AND the rest of my family. I don't have time for separate and individual meals and frankly, I'm not about that level of customization. I'm also not into dieting. My approach has always been to take recipes I love and adapt them to be better versions of their original self, for the sake of my hormones. I LOVE a baked treat and refuse to deprive myself of a few little baked bites when I feel like them.

Having said all of this, bloating in perimenopause is real and I had to get my system to a place where I could eat gluten again. I did that by cutting it out for 6 weeks and then reintroducing it slowly. Currently I eat gluten about 3 times a week, either via a pasta, baked item or sandwich. My personal solution for bloating and perimenopause is to increase my hydration, reduce coffee (and never to have it on an empty stomach) and to increase my fiber. I learned all these tips while studing hormone health at IIN.

With this recipe for sourdough discard chocolate chip muffins, I took one of my old muffin recipes, added oat bran for fiber and included sourdough discard. The benefits of sourdough discard is small in this context but still worth adding a little dose of fermented to water and flour to my life! If you're like me and still want to indulge in a sweet treat, try my brownies with cream cheese icing and my chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

Here are a couple of notes on the ingredients in this sourdough discard chocolate chip muffins recipe. Note the balance are the in the recipe card.

• Butter: I'm not precious about salted versus unsalted. If I use unsalted butter then I add salt to the flour mixture.
• Sourdough discard: I use unfed sourdough discard at room temperature for this these chocolate chip sourdough muffins.
• Oat bran: I add this in for fiber in my sourdough chocolate chip muffins. The most important note is to let it hydrate in the batter for 10 minutes before baking.
• Brown sugar: Brown or dark brown both work in these chocolate chip sourdough muffins. I have designed this recipe with a lower than usual sugar content so add more if you prefer.
• Oil: use a neutral flavored vegetable oil. I love avocado oil.

See recipe card for quantities and full ingredient list.

How to Make Brown Butter

So, I'm a little obsessed with baking with brown butter. It adds so much rich flavor to the baked item and I personally love the taste.

It's super simple to make for these sourdough chocolate chip muffins and other recipes:

Add the butter to a pot and let it melt and simmer on a medium heat. Keep an eye on it after about 3 minutes. I check both aroma and visual of the browning butter. The flavor should smell nutty and the color should turn a dark caramel color.

I like to scrape the sediment from the bottom of the pot out and add it to the sourdough chocolate chip muffins batter.

Instructions

Step 1: Brown the butter: Melt and simmer the butter until it is foamy and turns a dark, caramel color. Cool for at least 10 minutes before using.

Step 2: Mix fats and sugar: In a mixing bowl, whisk together the browned butter, oil and brown sugar.

Step 3: Add wet ingredients: Into the same bowl, crack in the eggs, sourdough discard, milk and vanilla. Whisk together.

Step 4: Combine dry ingredients: Sprinkle over the flour, oat bran, baking soda (bicarbonate of soda in South African recipes), baking powder and salt. Fold together gently.

Step 5: Chocolate: Quickly stir in the chocolate chips or chunks.

Step 6: Rest the batter: Let the batter rest for 10 minutes. This will give the oat bran time to hydrate and improve the overall texture of the chocolate chip sourdough muffins.

Step 7: Bake: Fill the muffin cups ¾ of the way up. Bake your sourdough chocolate chip muffins for about 18 minutes until domed and cooked through. Cool sourdough chocolate chip muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Substitutions

• Butter: Replace the butter in these sourdough chocolate chip muffins with the same quantity of vegetable oil.
• Gluten free: Use 1:1 gluten free flour replacement and use a certified gluten free oat bran mix.
• Milk: I'll sometimes make this recipe with a high protein, Greek yogurt instead of milk. In this case, I'll add a little a little milk to thin the yogurt back.
• Vanilla: Swap vanilla for almond essence.

Variations

• Spiced: I love adding in pumpkin spice, chai spice mix or plain cinnamon and nutmeg to these sourdough chocolate chip muffins.
• Fruit topping: Just before baking, I'll sometimes lay over a few slices of apricot, apple or pear. Remember to brush them with a little oil before baking.
• Mini: Use mini muffin trays and check them after 10 minutes.

Storage

These sourdough chocolate chip muffins keep for about 3 days in an airtight container. When I make them with oil only, they keep longer but I prefer them with butter.

They freeze well, stored in a freezer-safe container. After thawing them, I'll pop them in the microwave before eating.

Chocolate Chip Sourdough Muffins (Lunchbox Size, Added Fiber)

caseytheroastedrose

My chocolate chip sourdough muffins are boosted with fiber from the oat bran and enriched with brown butter. They make a lovely treat or lunchbox snack and are a low-waste solution in my kitchen for sourdough discard.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 18 minutes mins

Total Time 38 minutes mins

Course baking, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Servings 12 muffins

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Brown Butter Fat

• ¼ cup 60 g unsalted butter, browned and cooled
• 2 tablespoon neutral oil

Wet

• ½ cup 120 g sourdough discard
• ½ cup 100 g brown sugar
• 2 large eggs room temperature
• ¾ cup 180 ml milk or plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry

• 1½ cups 190 g all-purpose flour
• ½ cup 45 g oat bran
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

 

• Brown the butter: Melt butter over medium heat until foamy and nutty with golden bits. Cool 5–10 minutes.
• Prep: Preheat oven to 190°C / 375°F. Line a muffin tin.
• Mix fats & sugar: In a large bowl, whisk brown butter, oil, and brown sugar until smooth and glossy.
• Add wet ingredients: Whisk in eggs, sourdough discard, milk (or yogurt), and vanilla until well combined.
• Combine dry ingredients: Sprinkle flour, oat bran, baking soda, baking powder, salt (and cinnamon if using) over the bowl. Fold gently until just combined. Do not overmix.
• Fold in chocolate: Stir in chocolate chips, reserving some for topping.
• Rest the batter (important): Let batter sit 10 minutes. This hydrates the oat bran and improves texture.
• Bake: Fill muffin cups about ¾ full. Top with extra chocolate.Bake 18–22 minutes, until domed and a skewer comes out clean.
• Cool: Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack.

Keyword chocolate chip sourdough muffins, sourdough chocolate chip muffins, sourdough discard chocolate chip muffins

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