Alright, let’s dive into my sourdough dessert adventure! So, I’ve been playing around with sourdough for a while now – bread, obviously, but I got to thinking, why stop there? Desserts could use some of that tangy goodness too!
First thing I did was dig out my starter. It’s a bit sluggish these days, I gotta admit. Fed it up good, waited for it to double – you know, the usual sourdough drill. Takes a good few hours, sometimes half a day depending on the temperature in my kitchen. Patience is key, people!
Then I started looking up recipes. “Sourdough dessert recipe” – Google is your friend! Found a few interesting things: sourdough chocolate cake, sourdough discard cookies, even a sourdough babka. I decided to start simple. Cookies seemed like the easiest win.
I landed on a recipe that used sourdough discard. Basically, that’s the stuff you toss out when you feed your starter. Felt good to actually use it instead of just chucking it in the bin! The recipe called for:
- 1 cup sourdough discard
- ½ cup softened butter
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- Chocolate chips (as many as your heart desires!)
Creamed the butter and sugar together – got my arm workout in for the day! Beat in the egg and vanilla. Then, the star of the show: the sourdough discard. Mixed it all up until it was nice and smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisked together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Don’t overmix! That’s the secret to chewy cookies.
Finally, the fun part: chocolate chips! I went a little overboard, if I’m being honest. But hey, who’s complaining?
Chilled the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes. This helps prevent the cookies from spreading too much while baking. While the dough was chilling, I preheated the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Scooped out balls of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Popped them in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, until the edges were golden brown. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely (if you can resist eating them straight away!).
The result? Pretty darn good! They had a slightly tangy flavor, which was a nice contrast to the sweetness of the chocolate chips. They were also super chewy and soft. My family devoured them in minutes!
Lessons learned? Sourdough discard cookies are a great way to use up that discard and add a little something special to your cookies. I’m definitely going to experiment with other sourdough dessert recipes in the future. Sourdough chocolate cake, here I come!
