Sourdough Peanut Butter Hawaiian Cookies

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Soft, chewy, and packed with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts; made with sourdough discard

Hawaiian rolls have always been a family favorite in our house. So when I found a sourdough peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe on TikTok, I knew I had to try it. They were good… really good actually. But I also knew I could make them better.

My husband and I have always been white chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookie people. So I swapped the semi-sweet chocolate chips for white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and honestly? We haven’t looked back since.

These sourdough peanut butter cookies are soft and chewy in the center, have just a little crisp on the outer edges, and are packed with flavor from the peanut butter, sourdough discard, and those creamy white chocolate chips and buttery macadamia nuts. They are the kind of cookie that disappears fast, and I have the story to prove it. If you’re wondering whether you can swap in active starter, I covered exactly that here.

If you just want the recipe, jump straight to it below. But if you want all the tips that make these cookies come out perfectly every single time, keep reading.

The Cookie Story That Started It All

Our son drives up from Georgia to visit us here in West Virginia a few times a year. And I’ll be honest, as soon as he mentions a visit, I start thinking about how many batches of these sourdough peanut butter cookies I need to make. He loves them that much.

A little over a year ago I sent him home with a bag of these cookies. He’s a diesel mechanic and brought them into work, set them on his tool box, and within no time his coworkers had found them. He shared of course, because that’s just who he is, and those guys have never forgotten it.

Now, every single time our son is coming to visit, his coworkers ask him the same thing: “Can you get your stepmom to send more of those cookies?”

That’s the kind of recipe this is. The kind that gets requested by people who have only had them once.

If you are a fan of peanut butter, these cookies are about to become one of your favorites.

Why These Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies Work

The combination of peanut butter, sourdough discard (I store my discard in a WECK jar), white chocolate chips, and macadamia nuts sounds like a lot going on… and it is. But every single ingredient is pulling its weight here.

The peanut butter adds richness and depth. The sourdough discard adds a subtle tang that balances the sweetness beautifully. The white chocolate chips bring that creamy sweetness and the macadamia nuts add a buttery crunch that makes every single bite interesting.

And because ingredients matter, especially in baking, I am intentional about what I use. I use Members Mark all natural creamy peanut butter from Sam’s Club. If you don’t have a Sam’s Club membership, look for any good quality all natural creamy peanut butter with minimal ingredients. I also use Ghirardelli white chocolate chips, and Yupik raw unsalted chopped macadamia nuts from Amazon. I live about an hour from a main grocery store here in West Virginia, so I’ve learned to source quality ingredients online, and these three are non-negotiables for me.

The Freezer Secret (This Changes Everything)

Here is the tip that took these sourdough peanut butter cookies from good to consistently perfect every single time; freeze your dough balls before baking.

I know it sounds like an extra step but hear me out because it does two things:

First, it gives the cookies time to start baking before they have a chance to spread flat on the pan.

The result is a thicker cookie that stays soft and moist in the center while developing just a little crisp on the outer edges. That texture combination is exactly what you want.

Second, it fits into real life. I like to bake in the morning but the smell of fresh cookies at 7am is dangerous for my willpower. So I mix the dough in the morning, scoop the dough balls onto my parchment lined baking sheets, and pop the whole pan straight into the freezer uncovered. Then I bake them in the afternoon or evening. You can also freeze the dough balls in a bag or container and bake them another day entirely; which is perfect when you have family coming in or an event coming up and want to get ahead.

When baking from frozen, add about 2 extra minutes to your bake time. I bake fresh dough balls for 11 minutes and frozen dough balls for 13 minutes at 350°F.

The Butter Rule: Don’t Skip This

A Note on Dairy Free

I am allergic to dairy so I make these cookies with dairy free butter almost every single time, and I mean almost every single time. I have been baking this way for years and I can tell you that nobody has ever noticed the difference. Not once.

One thing worth noting if you go the dairy free route; I have never been able to find unsalted dairy free butter no matter how hard I’ve looked. So I use dairy free butter that contains salt and simply reduce the salt in the recipe from ½ teaspoon down to ¼ teaspoon to compensate. It balances out perfectly and the cookies come out just right every time.

So if you are dairy free or baking for someone who is, this recipe works beautifully with a good dairy free butter substitute. Use what you trust and don’t worry about it affecting the texture or flavor. It won’t. One more thing worth mentioning: Ghirardelli white chocolate chips are not dairy free. I use them when I am baking for my husband and others, but when I am making a batch just for me, I swap in these dairy free white chocolate chips by Enjoy Life and they work perfectly in this recipe.

How to Make Sourdough Peanut Butter Hawaiian Cookies

Step 2: Add the Wet Ingredients

Add your peanut butter, sourdough discard, egg and vanilla extract to the bowl. Mix on low until everything is fully combined. The discard blends right in and you will not be able to pick it out once the peanut butter is in there. This is where the dough starts to smell really good.

Step 4: Combine Wet and Dry

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined and remove the bowl from your mixer.

Step 5: Fold In Your Mix-Ins

Add your white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts to the bowl and use a silicone spatula to fold them in by hand. Do not put the bowl back on the mixer for this part. Folding by hand keeps the dough light and makes sure your mix-ins stay whole instead of getting broken up by the paddle.