These sourdough sugar cookies are delightful mounds of softness with a chewy texture, that doesn't spread, thanks to the magic of a tangy starter! 😉
Simple ingredients, stunning results! This foolproof sourdough sugar cookie recipe delivers bakery-worthy treats with minimal effort...
Plus it's a great way to use sourdough discard! Including instructions for easy sugar cookie frosting.
Sourdough Sugar Cookies
Easy sourdough sugar cookies are sweet, SOFT without spreading, and have subtle sourdough notes! Perfect for Valentine's day gifts or Christmas Eve!
These sourdough sugar cookies are made with ½ cup of sourdough discard... Sourdough discard (unfed starter) gives a more tangy flavor to the cookies. You can also use active starters, but they'll have less sourdough flavor.
After mixing up your dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours, and up to 3 days, before cooking!
Ingredients
- unfed sourdough starter discard. You can use an active sourdough starter, but it will have less flavor. No starter? No problem... Learn how to make your own sourdough starter here!
- salted & softened butter (You can use unsalted butter too, just a ¼ teaspoon more salt.)
- white sugar
- vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- all-purpose flour
- baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
For Sugar Cookie Frosting
You can either make butter cream frosting, that tastes delicious, or a prettier icing for a glossy finish.
For buttercream you'll need:
- powdered sugar
- softened salted butter
- vanilla extract
- milk or cream
For Royal Icing:
- powdered sugar
- milk
- light corn syrup
- vanilla extract
Sugar Cookie Icing takes several hours to dry, so give yourself plenty of time before stacking or storing.
Whatever you choose, you can add food coloring and sprinkles to dress up your cookies!
Tools to Make Sourdough Sugar Cookies
For this recipe, you only need a few tools including:
- a mixing bowl
- plastic wrap
- rolling pin
- cookie sheet
- parchment paper is nice for easy cleanup, but not necessary.
- a stand mixer, but you can also mix the dough by hand.
- a hand mixer for the frosting, but you can mix that by hand too!
Process
These sugar cookies come together very easily, and make super soft cookies!
- Cream butter, sugar, and wet ingredients until smooth in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
- In a large bowl add dry ingredients and mix well.
- Then, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed till well incorporated.
- Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and form dough into a flat disk.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
- Roll dough out on a well-floured work surface to ¼ inch, cut out shapes, and place unbaked cookies on a prepared baking sheet!
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-9 minutes!
- Cool and decorate.
Tips for Sourdough Sugar Cookies
Sourdough discard variations: If your discard is very active, you may need slightly less flour. Conversely, less active discard might require a touch more.
Chilling is key: Refrigerating the dough for at least 3 hours, for best results chill overnight, helps prevent spreading and intensifies the flavors.
Rolling Out Dough: Roll out to ¼ inch thick. If your dough cracks while rolling it, just let it set at room temperature for 10 minutes then roll it out again!
Variations: You can use different extracts for more cookie flavors! I also love using Coconut extract for a tropical-flavored sugar cookie (with a bit of lime juice in the buttercream frosting!) You can substitute the vanilla extract for almond extract, lemon extract, orange extract, and maple extract!
Do NOT overbake: Only cook these sugar cookies 8-9 minutes at 350 degrees F. You do not want them to brown on the edges or bottoms. Your cookies may look a bit undercooked when you take them out of the oven, but they set as they cool, and this keeps them SOFT 😉
Cooling: Let cookies cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting and decorating.
Butter Cream Sugar Cookie Frosting: Buttercream frosting is the fastest way to enjoy these tasty cookies. It requires no drying time, and tastes the best!
Sugar Cookie Icing: If you are making the sugar cookie icing make sure to use the corn syrup because it gives the cookies a glossy finish! Glucose syrup may be substituted.
Storing: Store leftover cookies in a sealed airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.
Sourdough Discard Sugar Cookie Recipe Card
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Recipe Card
Easy Sourdough Sugar Cookies with Sugar Cookie Frosting
Easy sourdough sugar cookies are tasty mounds of softness, that don't spread while baking, thanks to the magic of tangy starter! This foolproof sourdough sugar cookie recipe delivers bakery-worthy treats with minimal effort.
Ingredients
- ½ cup unfed sourdough starter
- 1 cup softened salted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- For Butter Crem Frosting
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ cup softened butter
- 2 tablespoons milk or cream.
- For Icing:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons milk
- *Optional food coloring & sprinkles.
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl combine, soft butter, sourdough starter, sugar, vanilla and egg. Beat until creamy and well combined (use a hand mixer or stander mixer).
- in a separate bowl combine four, salt and baking soda, mix till all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir till smooth and well combined. (Use a dough paddle for a stand mixer.)
- Scrape cookie dough into a ball. then wrap dough ball in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate wrapped sourdough sugar cookie dough for at least 3 hours (and up to 3 days).
- Generiously dust a clean work surface with flour. Place the chilled cookie dough onto the floured surface. Dust the top of your dough with flour and roll out to ¼ inch thick. Adding more flour as needed so the dough doesn't stick.
- Use cookie cutters, or biscuit cutters to cut out shapes and use a spatula to transfer your shapes to a prepared baking sheet. Place cookies 1 inch apart.
- Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 8-9 minutes.
- Let cookies cool completely before decorating.
For Butter Cream Sugar Cookie Frosting
- Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, soft butter and milk or cream in a small mixing bowl. You can add food coloring at this point if using.
- Use a hand mixer or spoon to stir till together till smooth!
- Spread 1-2 tablespoons of butter cream frosting evenly over each cooled cookie.
For Sugar Cookie Icing:
- Combine powdered sugar milk, corn syrup and vanilla in a small mixing bowl and stir till smooth.
- If using food colorings, divide icing into separate bowls and add food coloring to each bowl.
- Transfer icing to piping bags with tips in place.
- Pipe icing onto cookies and decorate with sprinkles if desired.
- Allow icing to dry for several hours before stacking or enjoying!
Notes
If you are not going to frost your cookies, you can sprinkle them with sugar or cinnamon sugar before baking!
If frosting is too thick add a teaspoon of milk at a time till its thick but pipeable. If you add too much milk, just add more powdered sugar to desired texture.
You can make frosting or icing in advance and store them in an airtight container. Stir well before using.
Nutrition Information
Yield 24 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 317Total Fat 13gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 41mgSodium 233mgCarbohydrates 48gFiber 1gSugar 34gProtein 2g
What do You Think?
Did you try this recipe? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
Have questions or suggestions... Let me know in the comments!
More Sourdough Cookies
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