Sourdough Thumbprint Cookie Recipe (discard)
By Kristen
These buttery sugar cookies with their sourdough twist are a hit in our home and are perfect for the holiday season!
A Few Notes for Your Sourdough Thumbprint Cookies
An easy way to keep your cookies from cracking when making your indent is to make your indent right after rolling your dough ball.
This recipe can be used with sourdough discard or active sourdough starter. Keep in mind your cookies will expand more with active starter.
My favorite holiday sourdough sugar cookies!
For the perfect Christmas cookies, add a red jam (strawberry jam or raspberry jam) to your thumbprint, and sprinkle with powdered sugar after they have cooled down.
Switch it up for Valentine’s Day by adding a heart indention with your finger or a small teaspoon and fill it with your red jams!
What You’ll Need
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
- 2/3 cup granulated raw sugar or white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- powdered sugar for sprinkling
Wet Ingredients:
- 1 stick of salted or unsalted softened butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup unfed sourdough starter (discard)
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- favorite jam
SUBSTITUTES
- Butter – can be substituted with softened coconut oil
- Granulated sugar – If you’d prefer not to use raw granulated sugar, you can try brown sugar or even coconut sugar, but it will change the color and texture of the sourdough thumbprint cookies.
- Bread Flour — all-purpose flour will work as well – we love to mill our flour – if using fresh milled flour, use 2 cups instead of 2 1/2
- Jam – Your favorite jam or what you have on hand!
Equipment Needed
- stand mixer with mixing bowl and paddle attachment or electric mixer with large bowl
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt – set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer or in a bowl of a stand mixer, mix the softened butter and sugar until it becomes light and fluffy.
4. Add the sourdough starter, egg, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
5. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the wet ingredients and use the mixer to incorporate them until just mixed. Use a spatula or large wooden spoon to scrape the sides of the bowl, combining all of the ingredients.
6. Take a gracious amount of granulated sugar and pour it on a small plate or in a small bowl. Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon measuring spoon to measure out your dough and shape it into a ball. You can also just sprinkle sugar over your dough ball before filling with jam.
7. Gently roll it in the granulated sugar to lightly coat. I like to leave some of my cookies uncoated as well. Place the dough ball on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet and use your thumb or small spoon to make your desired indention.
8. Fill your small indent with 1/2 teaspoon of jam.
9. Bake the cookies for 14 minutes.
10. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool before placing them on a cooling rack.
11. Once the cookies have cooled completely, you can lightly sprinkle them with powdered sugar or leave them as is.
Store your sourdough thumbprint cookies in an airtight container on the counter.
Sourdough Thumbprint Cookie Recipe (discard)
Equipment
- large bowl
- hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
- 2/3 cup granulated raw sugar or white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- powdered sugar for sprinkling
Wet Ingredients
- 1 stick of salted or unsalted softened butter room temperature
- 1/3 cup unfed sourdough starter discard
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- favorite jam
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, and salt – set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer or in a bowl of a stand mixer, mix the softened butter and sugar until it becomes light and fluffy.
- Add the sourdough starter, egg, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, and salt to the wet ingredients and use the mixer to incorporate them until just mixed. Use a spatula or large wooden spoon to scrape the sides of the bowl, combining all of the ingredients.
- Take a gracious amount of granulated sugar and pour it on a small plate or in a small bowl. Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon measuring spoon to measure out your dough and shape it into a ball.
- Gently roll it in the granulated sugar to lightly coat. I like to leave some of my cookies uncoated as well. Place the dough ball on a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet and use your thumb or small spoon to make your desired indention.
- Fill your small indent with a 1/2 teaspoon of jam
- Bake the cookies for 14 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow them to cool before placing them on a cooling rack.
- Once the cookies have cooled completely, you can lightly sprinkle them with powdered sugar or leave them as is.
Such a beautiful cookie and recipe!
Thank you so much!!
I recently started baking and love all things homemade. This recipe was awesome and so easy to follow! Delicious. Can’t wait to try others from this website.
Oh, thank you so much for sharing!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
These turned out amazing!!! The heart print is so fun, versatile & absolutely delicious!!
I love that! Thank you so much for sharing!!
I made these for my son’s Valentine’s Day class party this week. They turned out great! Thank you!