A classic cookie during the holidays, these Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies are the perfect cookie for cookie cutters. It's also a great use for the sourdough starter you have left in the refrigerator!
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It's not the holiday season if you don't have gingerbread cookies. They are spicy and a great break from all that chocolate you have around the house.
These cookies use some of your sourdough starter that is in the refrigerator. If you didn't know you could make with your sourdough starter, you're in for a real treat!
Baking with sourdough discard is one of my favorite things to do! You can make baked sourdough donuts, sourdough scones, sourdough discard banana bread, sourdough discard pancakes, sourdough discard waffles, sourdough chocolate chip muffins, and even sourdough crackers with herbs and olive oil crackers!
Ingredients You'll Need
- All purpose flour. Unbleached, plain white flour.
- Spices. For these gingerbread cookies, you will need cinnamon, ginger, salt, cloves, and nutmeg.
- Baking powder. No need for baking soda, just baking powder in this recipe.
- Butter. Room temperature so it will easily cream into the sugar.
- Brown sugar. Since brown sugar already has molasses in it, this will enhance that molasses flavor.
- Molasses. A classic ingredient in gingerbread cookies.
- Egg. To keep the cookie dough together.
- Sourdough starter discard. Inactive, meaning it has not been fed and it likely hanging out in the refrigerator for a while.
What is Sourdough Discard?
Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you are not feeding. When you are "feeding" your starter to make bread with, you add equal parts flour, water, and starter to a mason jar and let it rise.
You can't feed your entire starter, as it doubles and sometimes triples in size, and that's a lot of starter to have on hand! If you are new to sourdough, be sure to check out how to keep a sourdough starter post all about how to keep your sourdough starter happy.
Equipment to Gather
- Stand Mixer
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Rolling Pin
- Silicone Mat or Parchment Paper
- Baking Sheet
- Wire Cooling Rack
Let's Make Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies!
In a medium bowl, add the flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking powder, salt, cloves, and nutmeg. Mix all the ingredients to combine, set that aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and brown sugar. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add the egg, molasses, and sourdough discard. Mix again for 1 minute.
Carefully add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the stand mixer. Mix for 1 minute until the dough comes together into a ball.
Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and make the dough ball into a disc. Place the cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or up to overnight.
When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly flour your countertop and place the dough on the flour lined counter. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough out so the thickness of the dough is about ¼ inch thick.
With your favorite cookie cutters, cut the dough, and place the cut outs onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of your cookies.
When they are baked, allow them to cool to room temperature on a wire cooling rack and then decorate with royal icing.
Do These Cookies Taste Sour?
No! The sourdough discard adds a bit of a tang to the cookies, but they do not taste sour. The sourdough discard adds a bit of rise to the cookies and is a great balance for the sweetness of the sugar.
If you want to make these cookies a little more sour, simply let the dough ferment in the refrigerator. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit overnight.
Tips and Tricks
- Cookie cutters are just one way to utilize this dough. If you don't want to deal with the hassle of rolling out the dough and cutting cookie cutters into the dough, simply roll the dough into a log. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate. When you are ready to bake the dough, cut the dough into circles. Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven temperature.
- Thinner cookies will take less time to cook than thicker cookies. Watch the oven closely to make sure the cookies do not burn if they are thin.
- Keep cooled and decorated cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- You can decorate these cookies with your favorite sprinkles, or with a royal icing. My favorite is this one from Sally's Baking Addiction. I make it every holiday!
Questions About Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies
Yes! This will make a softer cookie than using inactive starter, but it will not effect the taste. It will just make the cookies rise a bit more.
Yes! You can freeze the dough or the cookies. To freeze the cookie dough, make the dough completely and then shape them into a log. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. To freeze the baked cookies, place the cooled cookies in a Ziploc bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Do not decorate the cookies before you freeze them.
Yes! You can freeze the dough in plastic wrap and a Ziploc bag for up to 3 months. You can also keep the dough in the refrigerator up to 24 hours before you bake it.
Yes! You can use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer.
I haven't tried, but I don't think these are good for gingerbread houses. This dough is a little too soft to stay up, you will probably need to add more flour.
More Sourdough Cookies
- Sourdough Pumpkin Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Sourdough Cookies
- Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies
- Brown Butter Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Sourdough Sugar Cookies
- Sourdough Snickerdoodles
- Decadent Sourdough Blondies
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📖 Recipe
Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon Ground Ginger
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Cloves
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- 1 cup Unsalted Butter
- ¾ cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Egg
- ⅓ cup Molasses
- ½ cup Sourdough Starter Inactive
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the flour, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking powder, salt, cloves, and nutmeg. Mix all the ingredients to combine, set that aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and brown sugar. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add the egg, molasses, and sourdough discard. Mix again for 1 minute.
- Carefully add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the stand mixer. Mix for 1 minute on low speed until the dough comes together into a ball.
- Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and make the dough ball into a disc. Place the cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour, or up to overnight.
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly flour your countertop and place the dough on the flour lined counter. Flour a rolling pin and roll the dough out so the thickness of the dough is about ¼ inch thick.
- With your favorite cookie cutters, cut the dough, and place the cut outs onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of your cookies.
- When they are baked, allow them to cool to room temperature on a wire cooling rack and then decorate with royal icing.
Video
Notes
- Thinner cookies will take less time to cook than thicker cookies. Watch the oven closely to make sure the cookies do not burn if they are thin.
- Keep cooled and decorated cookies in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- The size of your cookie cutters depends on how many cookies you will get out of this dough. I was able to get almost 3 dozen cookies with standard sized cookie cutters.
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