These beautifully spiced, chewy sourdough snickerdoodle cookies are the perfect blend of sweetness and spice for year round desserts, but especially in the fall! These jumbo, melt-in-your-mouth snickerdoodle cookies pair beautifully with coffee for a sweet afternoon pick-me-up. You can make them from start to finish in less than 20 minutes!

Supplies

Measuring cups and spoons: I use these measuring cups and these measuring spoons.
Large bowl: I use the large bowl from this glass bowl set.
Spatula: You can use a wood spatula or a silicone spatula, whatever you prefer!
Scoop: You can use either a large dough scoop or a spoon to shape the cookies. I prefer the dough scoop because it is fast, easy, and consistent.
Baking sheet: You’ll need at least one baking sheet for baking the cookies.
Parchment paper: Line the baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent sticking.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup white sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sourdough starter discard (stirred down)
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, plus extra for sprinkling
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, use a spatula to thoroughly stir the white sugar and soft butter together.

Add the sourdough starter discard, egg yolks, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and stir to combine.

Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir just until combined, but be careful not to over-mix the dough.

Using the dough scoop or spoon, divide the dough into 12 equally sized balls, and place 6 on a baking sheet. Space them out well, as the dough will spread. This will make jumbo cookies.

Optional (but delicious): Before baking, sprinkle each scoop of dough with additional cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 12-16 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden and the center is cooked but still soft. You may choose to bake a little longer for a crunchier cookie.

Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for a few minutes before eating! Or who are we kidding, grab a hot one now because we know you can’t wait. Enjoy!

Substitutions

For a richer and slightly more gingerbread-like flavor, you can swap the white sugar for brown sugar.
You can use unsalted butter if that’s what you have on hand, and then add 1/4 tsp. additional salt to the recipe.
If all you have is active sourdough starter, you can use it in the recipe! It will result in a thicker, more cake-like cookie consistency than had discard been used.
You may optionally add other mix-ins, such as chocolate chips, nuts, pretzels, etc. for an extra special twist.

Can I freeze cookie dough?

Yes! You can shape the unbaked cookie dough into balls, and then freeze for later use. Bake straight from frozen, and add a few minutes to the baking time.

Why Long Ferment Your Dough?

When you long ferment dough, it means that you are allowing the sourdough starter to “sour” the grains in the recipe. It’s giving the yeasts in the sourdough starter enough time to begin breaking down the flours, making the final product more easily digestible. This comes with both flavor and health benefits!

How to Make Long Fermented Sourdough Cookies

In order to have a long-fermented snickerdoodle cookies, you will need to make the dough in advance. Simply follow the directions as usual, but then refrigerate the dough for 3-4 days. This gives the sourdough starter time to ferment the flours in the dough before baking.

Then you have two options. You can either bake the dough from cold straight out of the fridge (resulting in a slightly thicker and more cake-like cookie), or you can let the dough sit at room temperature for about an hour before baking (resulting in a thinner and chewier cookie).