#NationalCookieDay #ChristmasCookieExchange

#NationalCookieDay #ChristmasCookieExchange

Today is #NationalCookieDay—doesn’t this Elf cookie meme say it all!#NationalCookieDay

Annually, December 4th is #NationalCookieDay, making it time to bake and give cookies. So let’s warm up our ovens and take this national day to a new level using sourdough to make our cookies. 

But first some background around the day.
Biscuits, as cookies are known in most English speaking countries outside of North America, have a long history, going back to 7th-century Persia in modern Iran. About that time the use of sugar became common in the region and making sweetened hard biscuits were a good solution for quick energy and to prevent spoilage when traveling (or taking food to war).
Later with the Muslim conquest of Spain, cookies spread to Europe. By the 14th century, cookies were found in the kitchens of the common man and royal courts throughout the continent. But, in the Holidays Calendar report, “the story of the cookie doesn’t end in Europe.”
“In the seventeenth century is made its way across the Atlantic into the Americas via the Dutch settlers of the time. Colonial housewives snatched up the concept of the cookie and began producing their own. These simple cookies were most often simply flavored with butter, with some of the more elaborate ones being flavored with rose water, maple syrup or sometimes even beer!”
And the folks at the National Day Calendar tell us that we have the Dutch to thank for their word koekie, which means “little cake.” The use of this Dutch word stuck with North Americans as “literally thousands of different cookie recipes that crowd [their] cookbooks of the last two centuries.” Naturally, makes “choosing a cookie a very daunting task indeed.” But they finished with,  “I guess that is just how the cookie crumbles though.”
Observing #NationalCookieDay

Naturally, this requires that you make or buy cookies, the Day Calendar folks suggest. “Pick up some cookies at your local bakery,” and remember to share some with family and friends! And don’t we enjoy getting and giving tins of cookies to family and friend all holiday season long.

So, while bakers around the country are warming up their ovens for traditional holiday baking, we think it is time to double your sourdough starter to make sure you have plenty of discard on hand because we want to make this season’s cookie focus, a sourdough one. Join for our Facebook #ChristmasCookieExchange and share your best sourdough bar, drop, filled, pressed, or rolled, sourdough cookie recipes there.

This one, of course, is our favorite:

Martha’s Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies

#NationalCookieDay #ChristmasCookieExchangeBuild Up the Starter

  1. The day before you plan to make the dough, build up your starter by mixing ¼ cup starter with half a cup (120 grams) filtered water and 3/4 cup (120 grams) flour. Let this sit loosely covered overnight until it is bubbly, thick, and smells sweet (approximately 6-8 hours).
    Your start is ready when a teaspoon of it floats in water. 

Mix the Dough

  1. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until fluffy
  2. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each addition. 
  3. Mix in the coconut oil, sourdough starter, milk, and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of your bowl as needed.
  4. In a separate bowl (or sifter), whisk together the flours, baking powder, soda, and salt. 
  5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture half a cup at a time on low speed, but until just combined.
  6. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula or spoon, checking the bottom of the bowl to ensure all the ingredients are mixed in well. (The dough should be soft, but not sticky.)
  7. Cover the dough and chill for eight or more hours. This dough can be baked cold.
  8. Preheat your oven to 350° F/175°C. Set the oven rack to the upper third nearer the heat source. 
  9. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper 
  10. Using a cookie scoop or large spoon, divide the dough into about 30 equal portions. Roll each into a rounded ball. 
  11. Place these on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. 
  12. Bake one pan at a time for 11-12 minutes. They should be a light, golden brown when done, but do not over bake, as these are meant to be chewy cookie.
  13. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 15 minutes to let them set up, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Here are a few recipe ideas from various sites including ours, we have curated for you:

Day 2: PB&J Sourdough Cookies

This recipe tested during the #SourdoughChallenge last Spring follows a very traditional mix with butter, peanut butter and brown sugar, mixed with a sourdough starter to make a puffy cookie that is easily filled with jam after pressing a thumbprint into each warm cookie.

But easily as good, you can push a chocolate kiss, or my favorite, a ROLO Creamy Caramel Chocolate Candy into the warm cookie after baking. Then return the cookies to the cooling, but still warm, oven for five minutes for the best gooey treat ever. 

#ChristmasCookieExchangeSoft Sourdough Cookies

This recipe from Cultures for Health promises this is an “easy soft sugar cookie” which, of course, is “a great way to use up extra or discarded sourdough starter. Add cinnamon or any other spices to the topping, for a variety of flavors,” they suggest, which clearly makes this one a sourdough snickerdoodle recipe.

Sourdough Key Lime Ricotta Cookies:  writes: “My best friend makes the best ricotta cookies. We’ve been eating them since we were kids, sneaking as many as we could from her mom’s Christmas cookie tin. I have adapted her original recipe to make them sourdough-friendly, which happens to be the perfect complement to citrusy lime. The texture is delightfully soft, almost cake-like, and sweetened with a quick-and-easy lime glaze. These cookies make great holiday gifts.”

Sweet SourdoughCookies: according to AllRecipes, “these are soft sugar-type cookies made with a sourdough starter to give them a little extra tang.”

You can also use this Sourdough brownie recipe to make cookies.

Now that we have shared some of our favorites, what recipes can you share in our #ChristmasCookieExchange for #NationalCookieDay and for the #12DayOfSourdoughCookies?

Back to blog

1 comment

There’s no ingredient list. Is this based on Martha Stewart’s recipe?

Terry

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.