Soft sugar cookies are the ideal bake when you’re in the mood for a treat, but not interested in a project that takes all day (or an extra grocery shop). These sourdough starter discard sugar cookies stick to a simple ingredients list, with an added bonus for those who keep a sourdough starter: They use nearly a full cup of starter discard.
I can say with confidence it is nearly impossible to eat just one.
By omitting—and removing—some of the flour and water that would naturally occur in a standard soft sugar cookie recipe, there’s room to stir in sourdough discard. And as anyone who regularly feeds their starter knows, our cups (and jars and containers) often runneth over with discard. The result is a pillowy-soft, subtly tangy cookie with a hint of nuttiness. I can say with confidence it is nearly impossible to eat just one.
Unlike many sourdough recipes, these cookies (like my oatmeal raisin cookies) don’t rely on discard for lift, which can take hours. And unlike many cookie recipes, this dough doesn’t need to rest in the fridge overnight. This means the dough comes together in about 30 minutes, and then you’re ready to bake. In fact, with such a minimal list of ingredients, most home bakers should be prepared to put together a batch right now. This just might become your new favorite sourdough discard and sugar cookie recipe.
Use Unfed Starter Discard
Since this recipe also calls for a chemical leavener (baking powder), there’s no need to use ripe, recently fed sourdough starter to give the cookies lift. Because it’s really just replacing some of the recipe’s water and flour, unfed sourdough starter discard (cold from the fridge in your sourdough starter discard cache or at room temperature) works perfectly.
To Remove Excess Water, Use Brown Butter and Egg Yolks
To make room for sourdough starter discard (which, we know is fermented flour and water in equal parts by weight) in this recipe, excess flour and water needed to be omitted from the other ingredients. I started out with a rough sketch of sugar cookie ingredients: butter, egg, sugar, flour, salt, chemical leavener. Replacing part of the flour in the recipe with starter discard is easy enough: I would simply subtract half the amount (by weight) of starter used in the recipe from any additional flour I planned to add. To figure out exactly how much that would be, I first needed to see how much water I could replace.
Removing water to replace with discard proves more tricky, as sugar cookie recipes don’t tend to include pure water. But a close look at the ingredients list actually shows quite a bit of water, it’s just hiding. Most American-style butter is about 80% fat and 20% water. Melting, and then slowly browning, butter allows for much of that water to evaporate, leaving room to add that liquid back in via starter discard (just like I do in my fudgy sourdough discard brownies)—as an added bonus, you’ll also impart a lovely nutty flavor due to all those toasted milk solids.
To incorporate as much starter as I could this way, I decided to build the recipe around 2 sticks (226 grams; 1 cup) of butter. By browning this amount of butter over medium heat for about 10 minutes, I could remove that 20% (or 45 grams) of water while leaving all the necessary fat. That meant I could add 90 grams of starter (45 grams each water and flour) to my dough.
Eggs also present the opportunity to remove water from batter, as they’re about 75% water (whites are about 90% water and 10% protein; yolks are about 50% water, 30% fat, and 20% protein). Eggs help cookie dough properly bind together, as well as assist with aeration and spread, so I obviously didn’t want to omit them completely: Since yolks offer fat, which I wanted to preserve in the recipe, I decided to omit only whites.
In cookie dough, egg whites’ water helps form steam during baking, creating a puffy, cakey cookie. It’s the most simple to remove the white entirely as opposed to weighing out 90% of one, so the absence of one 35-gram large egg white meant I could add another 70 grams of starter discard (35 grams each water and flour) to the dough. After testing a few times with just one egg yolk and a few ratios of flour and chemical leavener, resulting in exceptionally cakey cookies, I made the decision to add an additional yolk to help add fudginess (a trick I’ve often turned to when baking chocolate chip cookies), but not add any additional starter to mimic another full egg’s worth of water.
90 grams’ worth of starter from the butter and 70 grams’ worth from egg white meant I’d add a total of 160 grams of starter to the dough. (It also meant I could remove 80 grams’ worth of additional flour from the recipe.)
The Best Flour For Sourdough Sugar Cookies
The beauty of these cookies is their simplicity, so a standard supermarket’s all-purpose flour is the best choice for these cookies. I developed and tested these cookies with King Arthur Baking Company’s unbleached all-purpose and Gold Medal bleached all-purpose (which is also enriched and pre-sifted), one of which should be available at most supermarkets. Regardless of which flours you use to feed your starter, I recommend a no-frills all-purpose for the cookie recipe. For what it’s worth, lately, I’ve been feeding my starter as Maurizio recommends, with 20 grams carryover starter, 30 grams rye flour and 70 grams all-purpose (and 100 grams water).
The Best Butter For Sourdough Sugar Cookies
As mentioned earlier, American-style butter is about 80% fat and 20% water. European-style butter (what I recommend for our rich, flaky cinnamon toast cookies) can be anywhere from 82% to 90% fat (18% and 10% water, respectively); you could use either for the recipe as long as you hit the correct weight of remaining butter after browning, but I developed and tested this with American-style butter, so that’s what I’d recommend.
Tools For the Best Sourdough Sugar Cookies
The beauty of this cookie recipe is it requires no special equipment. No hand or stand mixer, no special baking pan or cookie cutter. You’ll need a small skillet or saucepan to brown the butter, large and medium bowls for the batter, and 1 or 2 standard half sheet pans for baking. While you can certainly weigh or measure out each cookie before rolling into a ball, I do recommend a #40 (2-tablespoon) cookie scoop to ensure they’re uniform in size.
Sourdough Starter Discard Sugar Cookies Recipe
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Sourdough Starter Discard Sugar Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 43 minutes
- Yield: 32 cookies
- Category: Dessert, Snack
- Cuisine: American
Description
The platonic ideal soft sugar cookie, made with a small portion of sourdough starter discard.
Ingredients
- 226 grams (1 cup, 2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 330 grams (2 ⅔ cups) all-purpose flour
- 6 grams (1 ½ teaspoons) baking powder
- 4 grams (1 ½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal or ¾ teaspoon Morton) kosher salt
- 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
- 50 grams (¼ cup) light brown sugar
- 28 grams (2 large) egg yolks, cold from the refrigerator
- 9 grams (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract
- 160 grams (scant ¾ cup) sourdough starter discard (unfed, 100% hydration), preferably cold from the refrigerator
Instructions
- Place the butter in a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter until it starts to foam and sputter, 3-5 minutes. Whisking often, continue to cook the butter until it starts to quiet down, smells nutty, and turns deeply golden brown, 7-10 minutes. As you whisk, try to lift any browning milk solids that are stuck to the pot. Remove from the heat and immediately pour into a large heatsafe bowl placed over a digital scale, making sure to scrape in as many browned bits stuck to the pan as possible. You should have about 180-190 grams butter remaining. Let the butter cool slightly, about 5 minutes, while you prep the dry ingredients.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- When the butter has cooled slightly, add the sugars and use a whisk to beat until well-combined, about 1 minute (the sugar won’t dissolve completely and may look separated). Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until well-combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat in the discard until just combined, about 30 seconds (the dough should be emulsified now). Scrape down the bowl and fold in the flour mixture until just combined. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
- While the dough rests, preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC) with a rack in the center, and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Fill a small bowl with more granulated sugar. Use a #40 (2-tablespoon) cookie scoop to portion out 12 mounds of dough (each should weigh about 30 grams) onto one of the sheet pans. Roll each mound into a ball and then place in the bowl of granulated sugar and toss to coat.
- Evenly divide the 12 cookie balls on one prepared sheet pan, leaving about 2 inches of space between each ball. Bake the cookies, rotating the sheet pan from back to front halfway through baking, until the cookies are golden at the edges and just set in the center, 13-16 minutes. While the first batch is baking, scoop, roll out, and sugar the next batch and arrange on the second sheet pan.
- Pop the second tray of cookies into the oven. Let the first batch of baked cookies cool on the sheet pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Scoop, roll, and sugar the remaining dough. When the second tray of cookies comes out of the oven, bake off the third tray of cookies (reuse the sheet pan and parchment from the first batch).
- Let the cookies cool completely, then store in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Sourdough Starter Discard Cookies FAQs
Can I use a sourdough starter discard from the refrigerator?
Yes! In fact, cold starter discard will ultimately help chill down the batter, which starts on the warmer side as a result of the melted butter. I tested with discard that had been refrigerated for 12 hours or more, and with some that had just been discarded (and was therefore unrefrigerated); but always found the dough slightly easier to emulsify and roll when the starter was added cold. Typically I used one that was a few days old; but in some batches of cookies I used a discard that had been unattended in the refrigerator for upwards of two weeks.
Can I use a vegan butter here?
Vegan butters do contain water, but not necessarily the same ~20% as American-style dairy butter; and further, many do not contain fatty ingredients that brown the same way. I can’t say I recommend it (but if you have luck, let me know!).
Do I have to let the dough rest for 10 minutes?
This brief rest at room temperature helps the flour hydrate and allows the sugar to absorb some moisture, which keeps these cookies soft. Unlike many cookie dough recipes that use melted butter, which need at least a couple hours’ (if not overnight) rest in the refrigerator, this one needs just 10 minutes. Don’t skip it!
Do I have to roll the cookie dough balls in sugar?
No, that’s technically an extra—but delicious!— final pre-bake step you’ll often see in soft cookie recipes like this. If you want to save yourself five minutes, skip it.
What’s Next?
If you have more sourdough starter discard lying around after making these cookies, put it to good use in Ciambella (Italian lemon cake), these floral and oh so easy-to-make sourdough drop biscuits, or for classic square/round shapes, these flaky discard biscuits.
Or, see all the sourdough starter discard recipes for more inspiration.
48 Comments
I've made the recipe many times, but this time I substituted almond extract, added a dollop of frangipane filling and rolled in flaked almonds. Cookie heaven!
Perhaps stupid questions, but asking anyway…1)can I simply cut everything in half to make a smaller batch? and 2)could I freeze half of the entire batch once it's scooped into balls & rolled in sugar, baking straight from the freezer?…thank you so much.
I love playing with this recipe. I made them again today and swapped out the brown sugar for some hazelnut praline paste. I cooked it a bit too much to melt the caramelized sugar but didn't want to throw it. OMG, they are amazing! Put a little swipe of chocolate ganache and they're done. Will probably put these on the Christmas Rotation.
Hi Rebecca and Maurizio, Thank you for the recipe! I did use it as a base and made some modifications. I also refrigerated overnight. I used 1/4 cup maple sugar and brown sugar, I cut the granulated to 3/4 cup. I added 1 tsp each of maple and vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp of butterscotch extract, a teaspoon and half of cinnamon, and a 1/2 cup each of cinnamon chips and roasted & salted pecans. I did not roll in the sugar, but if I did I probably would have made a maple cinnamon sugar. I cooked them at 325 for 14 minutes. They are really good!
Hi I’m about to make these sugar cookies. If you didn’t roll in sugar before the bake could you frost with royal icing? Thanks!
The sugar roll is optional!
I don't like rolling out cookies, so a drop sugar cookie fit the bill perfectly! Thank you!
I rolled half the cookies in a combination of sugar and ground sumac for the grownups. The other half got rolled in silver decorative sugar sprinkles in honor of the holidays!
I've done it that way, too Carry and it worked super well!
Thank you SO much for this recipe! I think I've made them 3 or 4 times now because my hubby adores them. He's English and enjoys a cup of tea (or several 😉 ) with something to dunk. I bake them a little more (maybe) so they are crisp and together with the complexity of flavor due to the discard, they are absolutely perfect. Definitely a keeper!
Oh, love that, Debra. Yes, these are quite good with tea (or a cappuccino!). I like a little brown around the edges of these, too 🙂
Is it possible to roll these out and use cookie cutters? Normally I’d be all about the easier route of making balls, but since I’m planning on making them for Christmas, I was hoping to make some shapes! Thanks 🙂
I don't think you will have much success rolling these out. The dough is very soft. I rolled mine in silver decorative sugar for Christmas and no one seemed to notice that they weren't shaped like a star or a candy cane or other traditional cut out holiday cookie.
Thanks! I found another discard recipe that does roll out, so I’m going to try that one!
Could you share the roll out recipe? Isn’t much different than this recipe? Thanks!
I wouldn't roll these out like Carry said, too soft!
I really appreciate these basic discard recipes. Although I’m not usually a fan of sugar cookies, ‘tis the season — so I gave them a try for some holiday events (rolling them in various festive sugars). They were familiar enough for fans of traditional sugar cookies, and interesting enough for those of us who are not. (Sourdough makes everything better.) Btw, I ended up using some King Arthur White WW as I ran out of AP, and it worked fine. Only caution: I did refrigerate the dough after noticing that the first batch spread and flattened too much during baking. I would recommend refrigerating for an hour for easier shaping and a tidier finished product.
Good call on the fridge time, Dee. Glad you liked these!
Wow!! These are fantastic. I had some really old discard to use annd crossed my fingers. The cookies turned out beautifully. I used cinnamon as well. The browned butter and umami the discard brings is next level.
These cookies are pretty fantastic, totally agree with ya Chris!
Best cookie recipe. Family and guest favorite. I portion with 2T scoop. I use the browned butter. Fully baked cookies freeze well and I always try to have some ready in freezer.
So happy you liked these Anna! They do freeze very well. Enjoy!
Rebecca,
I like the cookies that I just baked, but somehow had the idea that the recipe was for 2 dozen cookies. I’m sure it was because that was the amount I agreed to make for an occasion. So, the result was large cookies. I had to try one before serving to guests. They do taste good, a combo of sweet and sour from the sourdough discard. I will try this recipe again, with smaller portions for 32 cookies. I don’t make cookies much, but did note some old (my great-grandmother’s) recipe for sugar cookies that she included sour milk or buttermilk in the recipe (and lard of course). But there was some sour in her sugar cookies too.
Jim
Great feedback here, Jim, thank you! I like these smaller, too, they seem to last longer that way 😉
Have made this recipe twice in past month. Easy to make and VERY Yummy cookies, liked by all. I reduced the size to 20 grams for second batch – bake for a minute or two less, till edges are barely brownish.
Also made 1/3 batch with about 30 grams of finely chopped candied ginger- will use more next time- a nice ‘mature’ flavor for sugar cookies.
Only problem I had was that 2 sticks melted butted weighed less than 180 grams- so I added another 1/2 stick melted before mixing. seemed fine, not greasy. Maybe next time will skip the weighing after melting.
will also try choped craisins.
Thank you for this recipe.
Amazing. Great swaps there and thank you for all this feedback! I weigh the butter before and just go with what results. Craisins sound so, so good.
These are easy to make and so delicious! I rolled them in cinnamon-sugar (4 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon). I can also confirm that the dough does freeze well; just defrost the cookie dough balls in the fridge overnight and let sit out on the baking sheet while the oven is preheating. If they still feel a little too firm, press down on them with your palm until flattened about halfway to help them spread out while baking.
Yumm, cinn-sugar. Great idea, Rachel!
TThank You so much for this information.
I just made these with miyokos vegan cultured cashew butter. It’s the only butter I use. That specific vegan butter browned beautifully! The tangy sourdough flavor really makes these special. Thanks for the amazing recipe.
Oh thank you for reporting back with this, Molly. I’m always asked what butter to use… Happy baking!
I just made these. OMG they are fabulous!!!!! I made the first 24 exactly as written, for the last 10, I added a little cinnamon to the extra sugar for rolling & I double rolled the balls in the sugar before baking & I really loved the double rolled cookies with a slight touch of cinnamon. Thank you Maurizio for sharing the recipe, they are a keeper & I will be making these frequently.
I have to give all the credit to Rebecca for this wonderful recipe. But like you, I think they’re amazing 🙂
Just made these tonight! I was nervous about taste, so just made a half batch…. but I’ll be making more.
I have an odd relationship with brown butter.. in some things I love it and in others it’s… an odd flavor. I liked it in these, but, next time I might try some browned and some just melted. On some I rolled in just plain sugar and some cinnamon sugar. My first bite I thought, nope! My starter and discard are pretty sour so it took me a second. But, the crunchy outside and soft inside texture made me try more. Then I found that I couldn’t put them down… addictive!! I wasn’t sure my husband would like the tang, but he loved them!! Score!!!
I can’t wait to try more discard recipes, because I have a huge tub in the fridge filled to the brim of lovely thick, soft & bubbly discard that I’d love to use, not only throw out.
Is discard something you can gift to a friend? Like put a bit in a small jar with directions and recipes maybe? I’m moving and thought it could be fun to share.
Thank you for a great recipe! I can’t wait to try more!!
My go to for using discard are simple crackers.
200g discard, 2Tbsp melted butter, ~2tsp dried herbs, 1/4 tsp salt, and optionally another 1/4 tsp salt for sprinkling on top.
Mix everything together and spread thin and evenly on a silpat (I use the back of a baking sheet to make this easier.) Bake at 325 for 10m, use a pizza wheel to score the crackers, bake for an additional 20-35m until done.
Easy and delicious!
Some of my favorite spices for this are herbes de Provence, Furikake (use a heaping Tbsp for this), and a Soffritto blend (also 1+Tbsp).
Yup, you can absolutely give discard to a friend. Or, keep it in your starter cache in the fridge like i do 🙂
This Is a lovely idea! I'm going to try it.
can these be made vegan by using flax meal instead of egg?
Yes!
There’s an ATK French butter cookie recipe that calls for hard boiled egg yolks pressed through a sieve to reduce the moisture. This might be an interesting (though more complicated) way of increasing room for discard.
I also wonder if refrigerating the browned butter and using it to cream with the sugar the next day would make a difference?
That is a seriously interesting idea, thanks Delphine. Keeping that in mind for future experiments. Hmm. I’m not sure about refrigerating the butter, but I imagine it should be fine as no moisture will return.
I also wondered about browning the butter in advance. Did you try it?
I have not made these cookies yet.
There’s an ATK French butter cookie recipe that calls for hard boiled egg yolks presses through a sieve to reduce the moisture. This might be an interesting (though more complicated) way of increasing room for discard.
I also wonder if refrigerating the browned butter and using it to cream with the sugar the next day would make a difference?
Staring at a full jar of discard and your very timely email, these came together in a flash tonight. Hands down, *the best sugar cookies* I have ever made. Great texture, deep flavor with a hint of the tang from the sourdough.
My family: “These are ridiculous.” There were arguments over who got to have the last cookie; the plateful was gone in an instant.
Thanks again for another winner!
Ha ha, so glad you guys liked them so much. Pretty much the same story over here… Gone in a flash. Happy baking, Angeline!
These look great! Any tips on refrigerating or freezing the dough once combined for baking the next day or later?
Hey, Mark! I haven’t tried freezing, but I did keep half the dough in the fridge and baked them the next day—they turned out great!
I recently made the dough a day in advanced and refrigerated. I portioned the cookies first and then refrigerated. The day I wanted to bake them,I pulled the dough a little bit before I wanted to baked and then rolled them in the sugar. People commented that the batch was extra soft