Imagine your favorite classic sugar cookies – now enhanced with a whisper of sourdough tang and the warm, aromatic depth of vanilla and almond extracts. These sourdough sugar cookies bake up with crispy edges, chewy centers, and a beautiful even spread thanks to the simple chemistry of baking soda and lemon juice. Familiar and comforting, yet completely elevated!
I consider myself a chocolate chip cookies kind of girl, but I will make an exception for these wonderfully chewy and crispy sugar cookies. They are extremely simple to make and just perfect when my sourdough discard cache is getting a little low because you only need about a quarter cup of discard for 20 cookies!
This recipe is also a great base for building different flavor combinations. You can add citrus zest, like orange, grapefruit, tangerine and lemon – just like these chewy sourdough lemon cookies. Or simply add cinnamon to turn them into snickerdoodle cookies!
Ingredients for sourdough sugar cookies
Below is a picture of the 10 ingredients you’ll need for this recipe. If you want to skip ahead, the complete list of ingredients with quantities is in the recipe card at the end of this post, as always.
Notes on key ingredients
- This is one of my rare sourdough cookie recipes that only uses softened butter and not brown butter, since I want to keep the flavor closer to traditional sugar cookies.
- Sourdough discard adds that subtle tang as well as moisture. My sourdough discard is always at 100% hydration. You can use ripe sourdough starter as well, the acidity of the fed starter will be lower and your cookies will be less tangy.
- I recommend using only egg yolk to keep these cookies more chewy. If you add a whole egg, your cookies will be more cakey. Removing the egg white also makes room for the extra moisture in the sourdough starter discard.
- Baking soda helps these cookies spread, improves browning and also makes them more chewy. You may see other sugar cookie recipes only using baking powder, this is okay to do but doesn’t yield the chewy texture I’m looking for. I tested a batch with just baking powder, they did not spread as much, resulting in thicker and softer cookies.
- Lemon juice is a very important ingredient here! This is your acid that will react with the baking soda. I notice that the acidity of the sourdough starter is not enough to fully react with the added baking soda, so it can leave a bit of an aftertaste. Don’t skip this! But you can substitute 1 teaspoon of vinegar or cream of tartar.
- Almond extract along with vanilla extract add complexity to these simple sugar cookies. I highly recommend it, but you can use all vanilla extract if you don’t have any almond extract on hand.
Make sourdough discard sugar cookies with me!
Love seeing each step in photos? Follow along visually as we make this super easy and quick recipe. Otherwise, you can skip ahead, detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.
1. Cream butter with sugar
Beat softened butter with granulated sugar for about 2 minutes until light and creamy.
2. Incorporate remaining wet ingredients
Add sourdough discard, egg yolk, vanilla, almond extract and lemon juice. Beat for another 2 minutes until fluffy and creamy.
3. Make the cookie dough
Incorporate flour, baking soda and salt to make the sourdough sugar cookie dough.
4. Form the dough balls
Portion the dough with a 1-½-tbsp cookie scoop and roll into balls. You can chill the dough balls while the oven preheats, but a long chill is not required.
5. Roll in sugar
Roll dough balls in granulated sugar just before baking.
6. Bake
Bake for 12-13 mins at 350°F.
Baker’s tips
- Make sure your discard smells nice – similar to my simple sourdough biscuits, because this sugar cookie dough doesn’t have very strong flavoring elements, the flavor of the sourdough discard will be very front and center, more so than something like these sourdough oatmeal cookies. Take a whiff to make sure everything smells nice and pleasant.
- You don’t have to chill this dough! I pretty much always chill my cookie dough. But this recipe is one of the rare ones that chilling is not required. You can keep the dough refrigerated and bake later if you want, but you can also bake it immediately.
- Use a cookie scoop! I use a smaller 1 ½-tablespoon cookie scoop for this dough. It makes small snack sized cookies that are perfect for a quick bite.
- Adjust baking time as needed – while testing this recipe, I notice that if I bake a smaller test batch with 4 cookies, on the same size baking sheet or a smaller baking sheet, the cookies brown much faster. So if you’re not baking a full dozen on the baking sheet, reduce the bake time by 30 seconds to 1 minutes.
Sourdough Sugar Cookies Recipe
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Baking Sheet
- 1-½ Tbsp Cookie Scoop
Ingredients
Cookie dough
- 113 grams (4 oz) unsalted butter room temperature
- 150 grams (¾ cup) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 5 grams (1 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
- 3 grams (½ teaspoon) almond extract
- 5 grams (1 teaspoon) lemon juice
- 60 grams (¼ cup) sourdough starter discard 100% hydration, ~¼ cup
- 180 grams (1 ⅓ cup) all-purpose flour ~1 ⅓ cup
- 3 grams (½ teaspoon) baking soda
- 2 grams (¼ teaspoon) kosher salt
Topping
- 25 grams (2 tablespoon) granulated sugar
Instructions
- Cream butter with sugar – Add softened butter and granulated sugar to a stand mixer bowl. Beat with the paddle attachment for at least 2 minutes until well incorporated and creamy.113 grams unsalted butter, 150 grams granulated sugar
- Incorporate sourdough starter – Add the egg yolk, vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon juice, sourdough starter and continue beating for at least another 2 minutes until fluffy and creamy.1 large egg yolk, 5 grams pure vanilla extract, 3 grams almond extract, 5 grams lemon juice, 60 grams sourdough starter discard
- Add dry ingredients – Sift flour and baking soda directly into the wet ingredient mixture in the stand mixer bowl, sprinkle salt on top, stir until incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.180 grams all-purpose flour, 3 grams baking soda, 2 grams kosher salt
- Scoop and chill – Portion the cookie dough with a 1 ½-tablespoon cookie scoop and place them on a lined baking sheet. Roll into balls. Cover and refrigerate while the oven preheats. You don’t need a long chill for this dough.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake – Roll the dough balls in granulated sugar, place 12 on a half sheet baking sheet, and bake for about 13 minutes, until the edges of the cookies start to turn lightly golden.25 grams granulated sugar
- Cool – Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet to finish baking from the residual heat for 10-15 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- The cookie dough can be kept refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 6 months, once portioned.
- If you are planning to keep the dough balls for long term storage, don’t roll them in sugar. Roll in sugar just before baking.
- You can bake frozen dough balls without thawing, simply increase baking time by 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- If you are only baking a few cookies and not a full dozen on the baking sheet, reduce baking time to 12 mins or 12 mins and 30 secs. They brown quicker when baked in a smaller batch.
- Store leftover cookies in an airtight container for 3-5 days to keep them fresh. For longer storage, you can freeze them for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
