Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse to get a little messy in the kitchen, and what better way to show some love than by baking a batch of sourdough sugar cookies? These aren't your ordinary cookies; they have the tangy zest of sourdough discard in every bite! And since they're hear shaped, they're a perfect choice for Mother's Day too!
These are great for any other day of the year too! Leave them heart-shaped or do some other shape. Either way, these really are crowd-pleasers!
If you like using sourdough discard in cookie recipes, you should also check out my Sourdough Linzer Cookies and Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!
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Ingredients
- unsalted butter - ensure it's at room temperature for easy creaming. Unsalted butter allows you to control the salt level in your cookies.
- granulated white sugar: it gives the cookies a nice texture and sweet flavor. I did use a bit less than most other recipes use because the icing adds a nice bit of sweetness too!
- large egg
- almond extract: substituting (the usual) vanilla extract with almond extract introduces a nutty, sweet flavor that complements the sourdough tang even better in my opinion!
- sourdough starter discard: the discard should be at room temperature to integrate smoothly with other ingredients.
- all-purpose flour: provides structure and chewiness to the cookies.
- fine sea salt: try to find real salt without unnecessary additives.
- optional: 1 egg white + red food coloring - for decorating the cookies.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Sourdough Valentine’s Day Cookies
In your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together room-temperature unsalted butter with granulated white sugar until light and fluffy.
Add a large egg and almond extract to the creamed mixture.
Mix in sourdough discard.
Gradually add all-purpose flour and fine sea salt.
Mix until just combined, then finish by hand to form a cohesive dough.
Shape the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Place a chilled dough disc between two sheets of waxed paper. Use a rolling pin to roll it out to ¼ inch (0.6 cm) thickness.
Cut out shapes using a heart-shaped cookie cutter and arrange them on a lined cookie sheet.
Bake in a preheated 350°F (176°C) oven for 11-13 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Bake time will depend on the strength of your oven.
Let cool completely on a cooling rack before decorating or serving.
Hint: if you're too lazy to get your stand mixer out, you can use a HAND MIXER to make these as well. In that case, simply combine your wet ingredients, give them a mix, and slowly mix in a mixture of your dry ingredients.
How to Decorate Sourdough Cookies?
There are 2 ways to go about it:
- if you're an experienced baker, you could use proper royal icing. This recipe is my go-to when I'm feeling fancy!
- if you're a beginner, go for an egg white icing. I have my own recipe for it, but you can easily find others. What I do is I mix 1 egg white with 1 ¼ - 1 ½ cups powdered sugar on high speed, until a light icing with peaks forms. That it! I then spread it on the baked cookies with a toothpick!
Subatitutions & Variations
You can play around with these cookies a lot! Use cookie cutters with a different shape, use different icing...the options are endless! Just a few suggestions to add a bit of a special touch:
- Lemon or Orange Zest: Add the zest of one lemon or orange to the dough for a citrusy twist.
- Spices: Incorporate spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, or ginger for a warm, spiced flavor.
- Brown Sugar: Replace some or all of the white sugar with brown sugar for a deeper, caramel-like sweetness and a deeper brown color.
- Powdered Sugar: For a slightly different texture and a less sweet cookie, use powdered sugar instead of granulated.
How to Store Sourdough Valentine's Day Cookies
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature, where they will remain fresh for up to 4 days. After that, I recommend keeping them in the fridge and eating them quickly.
💭Crucial Success Tips
- use a piece of parchment paper or a baking mat to prevent your cookies from sticking to your baking sheet. Sugar cookie dough tends to be quite sticky!
- don't overmix the dough. After you add the flour, only mix so much that the dough comes together. You can even bring the dough together with your hands!
- if you're aiming for super sharp shapes, consider chilling your cookies after cutting and just before baking. If you give them time to firm up, they will hold their shape better while baking.
- use your favorite cookie cutters, even if you're concerned about the cookies losing their shape. This recipe is foolproof if you do it correctly!
FAQ
Yes! But I do prefer to freeze them before decorating.
Bake the cookies and let them cool. Layer them with waxed paper separating each cookie, then put them in a container suitable for the freezer. They can be kept frozen for as long as 3 months. Before you start decorating, let them thaw out at room temperature.
More Sourdough Discard Recipes
Looking for other sourdough discard recipes? Try these:
📖Printable Recipe
📖 Recipe
Sourdough Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer OR hand mixer
- 1 measuring cups and spoons OR kitchen scale
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 Plastic wrap
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 waxed wrap
- 1 cookie cutters
- 1 Baking sheet
- 1 baking mat OR parchment paper
- 1 Cooling rack
Ingredients
- 115 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
- 135 grams granulated white sugar
- 1 egg large
- 5 grams almond extract
- 65 grams sourdough starter discard
- 280 grams all-purpose flour
- 2.5 grams fine sea salt
Instructions
- In your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together room-temperature unsalted butter with granulated white sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add a large egg and almond extract to the creamed mixture.
- Mix in sourdough discard.
- Gradually add all-purpose flour and fine sea salt.
- Mix until just combined, then finish by hand to form a cohesive dough.
- Shape the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Place a chilled dough disc between two sheets of waxed paper. Use a rolling pin to roll it out to ¼ inch (0.6 cm) thickness.
- Cut out shapes using a heart-shaped cookie cutter and arrange them on a lined cookie sheet.
- Bake in a preheated 350°F (176°C) oven for 11-13 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Bake time will depend on the strength of your oven.
- Let cool completely on a cooling rack before decorating or serving.
Notes
- if you're too lazy to get your stand mixer out, you can use a HAND MIXER to make these as well. In that case, simply combine your wet ingredients, give them a mix, and slowly mix in a mixture of your dry ingredients.
- use a piece of parchment paper or a baking mat to prevent your cookies from sticking to your baking sheet. Sugar cookie dough tends to be quite sticky!
- don't overmix the dough. After you add the flour, only mix so much that the dough comes together. You can even bring the dough together with your hands!
- if you're aiming for super sharp shapes, consider chilling your cookies after cutting and just before baking. If you give them time to firm up, they will hold their shape better while baking.
- use your favorite cookie cutters, even if you're concerned about the cookies losing their shape. This recipe is foolproof if you do it correctly!
Nutrition
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