Thicker and softer Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies are how we love our ultimate Christmas treats to be! Full of warming spices and treacly flavours from the brown sugar, gingerbread cookies are not only delicious but certainly a fun cookie to make! This is an overnight recipe, though, so it will require some patience, but all good things are worth waiting for, right?
Make the sourdough discard cookie dough in the evening, then chill it in the fridge overnight. Bake, ice and enjoy the next day!
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If you enjoy a soft and chewy cookie with crispy edges, give our Sourdough Ginger Cookies a try!
Have more sourdough discard to use up? Craving even more cookies? Try our Sourdough Sugar Cookies, Sourdough Pumpkin Snickerdoodles and Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies next!
Chocolate lover? Sourdough Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are the way to go!
Equipment Needed
To make these Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies you will need a few things to help yoU along with the process:
- Electric handheld mixer (we love Kenwood)
- A large mixing bowl
- Rolling pin (stainless steel rolling pins are amazing - hardly anything sticks to it)
- Cookie Cutters
- Large Baking Sheets
- Baking Parchment (we love Bacofoil Baking Parchment)
Christmas Sourdough ebook
Celebrate the holiday season with a unique twist this year with our 24 Christmas Sourdough recipes! Discover the magic of using active sourdough starter, sourdough discard, and leftover baked sourdough bread to create a memorable and flavoursome Christmas feast.
Ingredient Notes
- light brown sugar: is our preference, but you may use dark brown sugar for a stronger molasses flavour.
- unsalted butter: make sure your butter is at room temperature, as you will need to cream it with sugar using a mixer.
- golden syrup: can be substituted with molasses or clear honey.
- egg: large in the UK, extra-large in the US.
- vanilla bean paste: or vanilla extract. We love Nielsen Massey Vanilla Bean Paste.
- plain flour: also known as all-purpose flour.
- sourdough discard: unfed sourdough starter that hasn't been fed for 2-3 days. However, avoid using a very old starter that has liquid forming on the surface - it will be too acidic.
- bicarbonate of soda: not to be mixed up with baking powder.
- salt
- ground ginger
- mixed spice: or pumpkin spice.
Find the ingredient quantities, detailed instructions and nutritional information in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Step-By-Step Method
Step 1: Make The Sourdough Gingerbread
1. Using a handheld electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup until it's thick and creamy (about 2 minutes) in a large bowl.
2. Add the egg and sourdough starter discard and beat again until fully combined.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, mixed spice and a pinch of salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined. The dough will be rather sticky, and that's ok.
5. Divide the dough into two, and flatten each piece. Wrap them in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and place them in the fridge to chill for 6-24 hours (or simply overnight).
Step 2: Rolling, Shaping and Baking Cookies
1. Take the dough out of the fridge and leave it to warm up for 5-10 minutes at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 170°C Fan.
2. Dust the kitchen surface with flour and place one piece of chilled sourdough gingerbread dough on top. Roll it out into a large sheet, approx 0.5cm thick. Make sure to dust the surface of the worktop and the dough as you roll to prevent it from sticking.
3. Using cookie cutters, stamp out as many cookies as you can. You can then reroll the scraps. Repeat with the second piece of gingerbread dough.
4. Brush away any excess flour from the biscuits and place them on parchment paper-lined baking sheets/ trays.
5. Bake the sourdough cookies for 8-10 minutes. Leave the cookies to cool down completely on the baking sheets.
Step 3: Icing
1. To make the icing, add the icing sugar to a medium bowl. Add 3 tablespoon of milk to start with and mix to combine. If the mixture is too thick to be piped, add a little more milk.
2. Once the desired consistency is reached, divide the icing between small bowls, and add food colouring to each.
3. Ice the cookies as you wish. Allow the icing to set before storing these sourdough gingerbread cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Icing Variations
If you want to add flavour to your icing, the best way to do so, without altering its colour of it, is to add essences and extracts. We love sourdough gingerbread iced with the added flavours of:
- Orange Blossom Water
- Almond Extract
- Ginger Extract
Pipe the icing on your cooled sourdough gingerbread cookies and leave them to set!
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! Reduce the amount to 45g, and make sure to use clear runny honey. Alternatively, you may use treacle or blackstrap molasses.
No, once you make the dough you will see that, whilst it is thick, it is really rather sticky and you will not be able to roll it out. Chilling is needed so that the butter in the dough solidifies, making the dough stiffer. What is more, baking unchilled biscuits will result in them spreading out and the butter leaking out of the dough.
Yes, you can! It may be a more traditional icing for gingerbread. We personally like softer, less crunchy milk-based icing but feel free to make royal icing or even a thin sugar glaze.
Other Sourdough Discard Recipes
I hope you liked our Gingerbread cookie recipe. Looking for Easter cookies? Try our Sourdough Discard Cookies With Mini Eggs!
We have a whole selection of Sourdough Discard Recipes, but some of our favourite Sweet Sourdough treats include Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies (Chewy & Soft), Sourdough Tahini Cookies and Extra Fudgy Sourdough Discard Brownies.
For more, have a look below:
- Sourdough Red Velvet Thumbprint Cookies
- Sourdough Peanut Butter Blossoms (Made With Discard)
- Almond and Orange Sourdough Biscotti (Made With Discard)
- Sourdough Lime Drizzle Cake
- Lemon & Blueberry Sourdough Scones
- Sourdough Lemon Muffins
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Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie Cutters
Ingredients
- 180 g (⅘ cups) light brown sugar
- 150 g (5.29 oz) unsalted butter softened
- 60 g (⅕ cups) golden syrup
- 1 egg large
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 400 g (3⅕ cups) plain flour
- 100 g (⅖ cups) sourdough discard
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2½ teaspoon mixed spice
Instructions
- Using a handheld electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup until it's thick and creamy (about 2 minutes) in a large bowl.
- Add the egg and sourodugh starter discard and beat again until fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, mixed spice and a pinch of salt.
- Add the dry ingredinets into the butter mixture and mix until combined. The dough will be rather sticky, and that's ok.
- Divide the dough into two and flatten each piece. Wrap them in clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill for 6-24 hours (or simply overnight).
- Take the dough out of the fridge and leave it to warm up for 5-10 minutes at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 170°C (340℉).
- Dust the kitchen surface with flour and place one piece of chilled sourdough gingerbread dough on top. Roll it out into a large sheet, approx 0.5cm thick. Make sure to dust the surface of the worktop and the dough as you roll to prevent it from sticking.
- Using cookie cutters, stamp out as many cookies as you can. You can then reroll the scraps. Repeat with the second piece of gingerbread dough.
- Brush away any excess flour off the biscuits and place them on baking parchment-lined baking sheets/trays.
- Bake the sourdough cookies for 8-10 minutes. Leave the cookies to cool down completely on the baking sheets.
- To make the icing, add the icing sugar to a medium bowl. Add 3 tablespoon of milk to start with and mix to combine. If the mixture is too thick to be piped, add a little more milk. Once the desired consistency is reached, divide the icing between small bowls, and add food colouring in each.
- Pipe the icing on your cooled sourdough gingerbread cookies and leave it to set!
Notes
Nutrition
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