Sourdough Starter Sugar Cookies

I love finding new ways to make things with my sourdough starter, and these sourdough starter sugar cookies were fun to make with my girls.  We even doubled the batch and took them to our girls dance party.  I think it’s safe to say that they were a hit!  I hope you love them as much as we did!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup, 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 ⅔ cups organic all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons Himalayan salt
• 1 cup organic granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
• ¼ cup organic brown sugar
• 2 large egg yolks, cold from the refrigerator
• 2 teaspoons) organic vanilla extract
• scant ¾ cup sourdough starter discard (unfed, 100% hydration), preferably cold from the refrigerator

Directions:

1. Place the butter in a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat. Melt the butter until it starts to foam and sputter, 3-5 minutes. Whisking often, continue to cook the butter until it starts to quiet down, smells nutty, and turns deeply golden brown, 7-10 minutes. As you whisk, try to lift any browning milk solids that are stuck to the pot. Remove from the heat and immediately pour into a large heatsafe bowl placed over a digital scale, making sure to scrape in as many browned bits stuck to the pan as possible. You should have about 180-190 grams butter remaining. Let the butter cool slightly, about 5 minutes, while you prep the dry ingredients.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. When the butter has cooled slightly, add the sugars and use a whisk to beat until well-combined, about 1 minute (the sugar won’t dissolve completely and may look separated). Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla until well-combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat in the discard until just combined, about 30 seconds (the dough should be emulsified now). Scrape down the bowl and fold in the flour mixture until just combined. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
4. While the dough rests, preheat the oven to 350ºF with a rack in the center, and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
5. Fill a small bowl with more granulated sugar. Use approximately 2 TBS to portion out mounds of dough onto one of the sheet pans. Roll each mound into a ball and then place in the bowl of granulated sugar and toss to coat.
6. Evenly divide the cookie balls on one prepared sheet pan, leaving about 2 inches of space between each ball. Bake the cookies, rotating the sheet pan from back to front halfway through baking, until the cookies are golden at the edges and just set in the center, 13-16 minutes. While the first batch is baking, scoop, roll out, and sugar the next batch and arrange on the second sheet pan.
7. Pop the second tray of cookies into the oven. Let the first batch of baked cookies cool on the sheet pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Scoop, roll, and sugar the remaining dough. When the second tray of cookies comes out of the oven, bake off the third tray of cookies (reuse the sheet pan and parchment from the first batch).
8. Let the cookies cool completely, then store in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 3 months.