Peanut butter cookies from sourdough discard

Makes 24. Recipe adapted from the Homemade Food Junkie blog.

Ingredients

• 125 g peanut butter
• 55 g butter at room temperature
• 80 g light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Between 100-300 g discarded sourdough starter¹
• 1 egg
• 125 g all-purpose flour
• 0.5 teaspoons (about 3 g) baking powder
• 0.5 teaspoons (about 3 g) baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• Granulated sugar for sprinkling

You’ll also need

• Electric mixer
• One large mixing bowl
• One smaller mixing bowl

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175°C.
2. In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to mix the peanut butter, butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy-looking.
3. Mix in the sourdough discard and egg until just combined.
4. In the smaller mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until homogenised, ensuring there are no lumps.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in three parts. Gently fold the dry ingredients in until just combined.
6. Line your baking tray with baking paper. To shape the cookies, make 2 cm balls out of the dough, lightly roll them around in granulated sugar, and place them 4 cm apart on the baking tray as they will expand during baking. Lightly press them with your fingers to make discs.
7. Bake for 10 minutes until cookies are golden-brown. Remove trays from oven and let sit for 5 minutes so the cookies can harden, then move to wire racks to cool.

Footnotes

1. Less sourdough starter means your cookie will end up more crispy; using more starter means your cookie will be chewier. I think the texture would also vary depending on how active your starter is to begin with, so do experiment!