Sourdough Discard Gooey Butter Cookies (Cream Cheese Filled, Almond Kissed)

Some desserts hold a corner of your heart that nothing else can touch. For me, that's ooey gooey bars. Growing up we always called them Neiman Marcus bars because they're rich enough to deserve a fancy name, and honestly that name just stuck. Turns out they go by about ten different aliases depending on where you grew up. Ooey Gooey bars. Gooey butter bars. Chess squares. Philadelphia crumb cake. St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake.

I'm a sucker for anything with cream cheese, so the moment I figured out I could turn this nostalgic favorite into a sourdough discard cookie, I was in. And not just discard in the dough. Discard in the filling too.

These cookies are everything I love about the original bars in handheld form. Tender, almond kissed cookie that genuinely reminds me of wedding cake. A cheesecake style cream cheese center that's just barely tangy from the discard. Rolled in powdered sugar so they crackle like little snowballs in the oven. Still rich the way ooey gooey is always rich, just a little more dimensional.

I'll say it. I might like these more than the original bars.

My whole family was just as obsessed as I was. My toddler and preschooler both got their hands in the dough during assembly, which was equal parts adorable and chaotic. I had to say "gentle" approximately 47 times.

Why These Work So Well

Let me break down what makes these so special:

Cream Cheese in the Dough AND the Filling. Most ooey gooey recipes pile cream cheese on top of a cake mix base. This version doubles down. The cookie itself has 8 oz of cream cheese baked right in, and the filling adds more for that cheesecake center. If you love cream cheese the way I do, this is the whole point.

Sourdough Discard in Both Layers. This is what makes the recipe genuinely different from anything else out there. The discard adds just enough tang to keep these from being one-note sweet, which is the only critique I've ever had of traditional gooey butter anything. It also gives the cookies a tender, slightly chewy texture without needing cornstarch or other tricks. And it works the same magic in the filling, where the subtle tang reads almost like real cheesecake.

Cake Flour for that Wedding Cake Feel. Combined with the almond extract, the cookie itself has those tender, slightly perfumey wedding cake vibes that pair beautifully with the cheesecake filling. It's the kind of cookie that tastes special even before you bite into the center.

Mixer Required (and Worth It). Unlike a lot of my recipes, this one needs a stand mixer or hand mixer. The cream cheese and butter need real beating to come together properly. It's worth it.

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Ingredients

Cookie Dough Wet Ingredients

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature (225g)
• ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature (113g)
• 1 ½ cups unrefined cane sugar (300g), or granulated sugar as a simple swap
• 1 large egg, room temperature (50g)
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature (18g)
• ½ cup sourdough discard, room temperature (113g)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (5g)
• 1 tsp almond extract (5g)

Cookie Dough Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups cake flour (240g)
• 2 tsp baking powder (8g)
• ½ tsp salt (3g)

Cream Cheese Filling

• 5 oz cream cheese, room temperature (140g)
• 1 ⅔ cups powdered sugar (200g)
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 2 Tbsp sourdough discard (30g)
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste

For Coating

• 1/2 cup unrefined cane sugar (for the first roll)
• 1 cup powdered sugar (for the second roll), plus extra for dusting

Equipment

• Stand mixer or hand mixer
• Mixing bowls
• Large cookie scoop (3 Tbsp)
• Small cookie scoop (1.5 Tbsp)
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper
• Plastic wrap

Instructions

Step 1: Make the Cookie Dough

In your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. This takes about 1 to 2 minutes. Don't rush this part. Any lumps now will show up in your dough later.

Add the sugar and beat for another 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Then add the egg, egg yolk, sourdough discard, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix until everything is fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. With your mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in two additions, mixing just until combined. You don't want to overwork the dough at this stage.

Step 2: Chill the Dough (Or Better Yet, Let It Long Ferment)

This step is absolutely necessary. The dough comes off the mixer too soft to work with, and it needs time to firm up before you can scoop it. Wrap the bowl tightly in plastic and chill for at least 2 hours.

That said, I really encourage a longer rest if you can swing it. A 12 to 24 hour ferment in the fridge is where this recipe goes from good to something special. The sourdough discard is alive, even when used as discard, and given time it slowly works on the dough in the cold. The flour fully hydrates, the gluten relaxes, and the discard's wild yeasts and bacteria do a slow, gentle ferment that develops genuine sourdough complexity. The almond and vanilla also have time to bloom and round out. The result is a cookie with more depth, a slightly more tender crumb, and that hard-to-describe quality where a recipe just tastes thought through.

You can rest the dough up to 48 hours in the fridge if life gets in the way.

A note on working with this dough: it stays pretty soft even after chilling. If it starts to feel sticky or hard to scoop while you're assembling, just pop the bowl back in the fridge for 10 minutes, or the freezer for 5. Cold dough is friendly dough.

Step 3: Make the Filling

While the dough chills, make the filling. Beat the cream cheese until completely smooth. Add the powdered sugar, egg yolk, sourdough discard, and vanilla bean paste. Beat until silky and well combined. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to assemble. The filling will firm up in the fridge, which makes it much easier to portion.

Step 4: Assemble

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using your 3 Tbsp cookie scoop, scoop a generous ball of dough. Then roll it first in the unrefined cane sugar to coat, then in the powdered sugar for a heavier second coat. (The double roll is what gives you that gorgeous textured crackle when they bake. The cane sugar adds a little caramelized depth underneath, and the powdered sugar is what gives you the bakery style snowy finish on top.)

Place the coated balls on your prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Then take your 1.5 Tbsp cookie scoop and press it firmly into the center of each ball to make a deep well. Don't be shy. You want a generous well to hold all that filling.

Using the same 1.5 Tbsp scoop, fill each well with the cream cheese filling. Don't quite fill the scoop all the way (about three quarters full is perfect). You want the filling to sit nestled in the well, not overflowing.

This is where my kids loved helping. Both my 4 year old and 2 year old are great at rolling the dough balls in the sugars. Plus they get very serious about pressing the wells. This is where I may have said “gentle” more times that I can count.

Step 5: Bake

Bake for 11 to 14 minutes, until the edges have lightly browned and the tops have set with a soft, satiny finish (you'll see the surface go from glossy and wet looking to matte and set). The filling will still be soft and gooey in the well, which is exactly what you want.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes (they're too tender to move right out of the oven), then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with extra powdered sugar once they're cool if you want that bakery finish.

Tips for the Best Cookies

• Room temp everything. The cream cheese, butter, and eggs all need to be at true room temperature for the dough to come together smoothly. If any of them are cold, you'll end up with a lumpy dough that's hard to work with.
• Long ferment for the best flavor. Two hours is the minimum, but 12 to 24 hours in the fridge develops a depth you can't get any other way. This is where the sourdough really earns its place in the recipe.
• Cold dough is friendly dough. This dough stays soft even after chilling. If it gets sticky or hard to scoop, pop the bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes or the freezer for 5. Don't fight it.
• Press the well with confidence. A shallow well won't hold enough filling. A deep, firm press with the small scoop is what you want.
• Don't overfill the well. About three quarters of a 1.5 Tbsp scoop of filling is the sweet spot. Any more and it will spill over during baking.
• Watch for that satiny set. When the tops go from wet and glossy to soft and matte, with edges just lightly browned, they're done. Overbaking turns these from tender and gooey into dry and crumbly.
• The double sugar roll matters. Cane sugar first, powdered sugar second. The two textures bake into a beautiful crackled finish that single coating just doesn't give you.

Final thoughts and a note on Sourdough Discard

My discard is usually pretty thick, which works perfectly for this recipe. If yours is more on the watery side, you may want to add an extra tablespoon or two of cake flour to compensate. The tang here is subtle. The cream cheese and almond do most of the talking, but the discard adds this almost cheesecake like depth that makes the whole cookie taste more complex than the sum of its parts. It's one of those ingredients that makes people say "what's in these?" and they never guess sourdough.

If you grew up calling these Neiman Marcus bars, or ooey gooey butter cookies, or just "those rich ones grandma always made," I think you'll feel that same nostalgic pull when you take a bite. The almond, the cream cheese, the just-barely-tangy filling. It's familiar and a little new at the same time. And the sourdough discard makes it feel like the bars you grew up with had a glow up.

My husband said he might prefer these to the original bars, which (considering how much we love those bars) is saying something.

Go make them. Make them with your kids. And report back, because I want to know if you love them as much as we do.