Sourdough Sugar Cookie Recipe - The Happy Mustard Seed (2024)

These drop cookies are soft, tangy, and delicious. This Sourdough Sugar Cookie Recipe is easy to make and uses up your sourdough discard like the other recipes here: Recipes Using Discard Sourdough.

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There are so many different ways to use your sourdough discard and these cookies are one of the best! Baked just until they are cooked all the way through and the edges aren’t brown gives you a beautiful soft cookie.

If you have made your own sourdough starter or one has been passed down to you, you know that feeding it produces more and more starter. You need to do something with it or the bowl will overflow. Instead of throwing away the unfed sourdough discard, I challenge you to do something tasty with it.And Cookies are a great way to do just that.

These cookies are perfect for that task! The sourdough makes the cookies soft and gives them a slightly tangy flavor (kind of like a snickerdoodle). They are so good you may consider adopting them into your Christmas cookie dessert recipes this year.

Using Sourdough Starter To Make Cookies:

This recipe is made with sourdough starter discard which can be used for tons of amazing recipes including bread, tortillas, cake, cookies, pancakes, pizza crust, and so much more.

If you’re new to making sourdough, check out this article on how it works:

Let’s Make The Sourdough Sugar Cookies! Here are the step-by-step instructions in photos to help.

Let’s Make The Sourdough Sugar Cookies! Here are the step by step instructions in photos to help.

I am using discard from my homemade sourdough starter. The starter I am using for this recipe is an older active starter so the cookies will have a slight tang. If you would like less of a tang, you can add in a pinch or two of baking soda which will help to neutralize the sour flavor.

Ok, let’s get started.

After you preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, link your baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
In a large size bowl of a stand mixer, combine your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt

Then in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and sourdough discard and mix until combined. Then add the dry ingredients and mix until dough is combined.Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, forming a ball

Roll cookies into ball and then coat with sugar. Add to your parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 7 to 10 minutes. For best results, let the sugar cookies rest on baking sheet before moving them to cool in a wire rack.

Tips For Making Perfect Sourdough Cookies:

There are many tips and tricks for making the perfect sourdough discard sugar cookies, here are a few to help get you started

1. These are drop cookies, so no cutouts or cookie cutters are required. This means the whole process will be much shorter since there’s no need to roll out, cut, and carefully place them on the tray.
2. This sourdough sugar cookies recipe can create many other cookie recipes by adding mix ins like chocolate chips or toppings like icing and sprinkles.
3. Use up your sourdough starter discard by making an extra batch and freezing to bake when you’re craving them again.
4. You can bake them directly from room temperature but if you refrigerate the cookies for 1 hour before baking, they will come together better and rise slightly higher.
5. Let them sit overnight. They are softer the next day.

How To Store The Cookies

You can keep the cookies on the counter in an air-tight container for between 3 – 5 days.

Tip: If they start to get hard or stale, place a half piece of sandwich bread in the bag (don’t let it touch the cookies). The bread will give moisture to the cookies and will soften them and extend their life.

You can make the cookie dough up to 3 days ahead of when you want to bake them. Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and place in an airtight container or wrap in plastic wrap and then refrigerate them.

Can you freeze the sourdough sugar cookies dough? Yes! These sweet cookies are easy to freeze. After mixing in the flour, lay out a piece of plastic wrap on the counter, form the dough into a flat disc, and wrap tightly with the plastic wrap. Make sure to write what it is and the date on the outside with a marker so when you’re looking through your freezer you can remember what it is. It’s also helpful the write the oven temperature and minutes to bake so you don’t have to guess.

Be sure to check out these other easy recipes. Recipes For Discarded Sourdough Starter

Fun Ways To Use The Rolling Sugar

Before the cookies bake, you will roll them in a ball and coat them in a thin layer of sugar. This gives the cookies an extra yummy layer. A fun way to give that layer a boost is to add a flavor like cinnamon, pumpkin spice, nutmeg, or allspice. Add just a pinch of one of these to the sugar to make a spiced sugar cookies recipe! Your taste buds (and friends) will thank you for it!

For the best results, do not squeeze the dough or press them too hard in the sugar. Gently roll them.