Glazed Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies – Home Grown Happiness

These Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies are packed with warming spices. They are slightly soft in the center and covered in a sweet glaze.

It’s cookie time, and gingerbread cookies are one of my all-time favorites. This recipe is a great way to use up sourdough starters.

The starter in sourdough gingerbread cookies

The sourdough starter in this recipe it can be a discarded starter or a recently fed starter. The dough goes through a long cooling period during which the bacteria in the starter begin to break down the carbohydrates and starches in the flour.

This slow fermentation can aid in digestion.

Ingredients

For these sourdough gingerbread you need –

• Butter – You can use salted or unsalted.
• Soft Brown Sugar – Soft brown sugar helps bring moisture into the cookie. If you only have granulated sugar, you can substitute that, but remove 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar and add an additional tablespoon of molasses instead.
• Unsulphured or Blackstrap Molasses – Blackstrap molasses has a stronger flavor than unsulphured molasses, but either can be used in this recipe. With Blackstrap, the flavor comes through a little more.
• egg
• Vanilla – a good quality paste if you can!
• Salt
• all purpose flour
• Discard sourdough
• baking powder
• Ground Ginger
• Cinammon
• pimento
• cloves

Embossed Cookies

I chose an embossed roller for these cookies because it’s just so pretty! Embossed cookies take a little more time as they need to dry for a few hours before baking. This will ensure the embossed pattern doesn’t puff up and bake away in the oven.

Etsy has a huge selection of embossing rollers!

To save time, you can also use standard-shaped cookie cutters! These can be baked directly.

Step by step instructions

The dough

First, beat the butter, brown sugar, and molasses until thick and fluffy. Beat in the egg and sourdough starter until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add this to the butter mixture and combine into a thick but sticky dough.

Press the dough flat into an airtight container or wrap it round and flat in compostable plastic wrap. If you’re not rolling out all of the cookies at once, it may help to divide the dough into two and wrap each piece separately.

The dough needs to be refrigerated for a minimum of 8 hours or up to 36 hours.

roll

Generously flour the bench and place the chilled dough on top. Roll out until just over ½ cm (¼ inch) thick. The initial rolling will be harder and the dough will tear. Rolling out gets easier each time as the butter in the dough softens.

Use as much flour as you need to roll out without sticking.

Once you’re ready to cut out the cookies or use an embossing roller, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough.

Place the embossed cookies on baking paper and let them dry in the fridge for about 5 hours before baking. Cookie cutters can be baked immediately.

Bake

Bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes, depending on their size. For crispier cookies, you can bake them a few minutes longer.

glazing

Allow the cookies to cool completely before glazing.

Mix together the powdered sugar, melted butter, and milk to create a runny glaze. Brush the cooled cookies with icing using a pastry brush. The frosting sets into the patterns of the embossed biscuits.

storage

Leftover cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 7 days.

Unbaked cookie dough can be wrapped tightly and frozen for up to three months. Baked cookies can also be frozen without frosting.

Related Recipes

Glazed sourdough gingerbread cookies

Yield:
25-30

Preparation time:
10 mins

Cooking time:
10 mins

Extra time:
8 hours

Total time:
8 hours 20 minutes

These sourdough gingerbread cookies are soft and full of warming spices.

Ingredients

• 180 g soft brown sugar

• 150 g butter, room temperature

• 60 g unsulphured or blackstrap molasses

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract

• 400 g all-purpose flour

• Discard 100 g sourdough starter

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 3 teaspoons ground ginger

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ground allspice

• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

glaze

• 80 grams of powdered sugar

• 1 tablespoon melted butter

• 1 tablespoon of milk

instructions

1. Start by creaming butter, brown sugar, and molasses with a hand mixer or stand mixer until thick and fluffy.
2. Beat in the egg and sourdough starter until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add this to the butter mixture and combine into a thick but sticky dough.
4. Press the dough flat into an airtight container or wrap it round and flat in compostable plastic wrap. If you’re not rolling out all of the cookies at once, it may help to divide the dough into two and wrap each piece separately.
5. The dough needs to be refrigerated for a minimum of 8 hours or up to 36 hours. Generously flour the bench and place the chilled dough on top.

roll

1. Roll out until just over ½ cm (¼ inch) thick. The initial rolling will be harder and the dough will tear. Rolling out gets easier each time as the butter in the dough softens.
2. Use as much flour as you need to roll out without sticking.
3. Once you’re ready to cut out the cookies or use an embossing roller, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough.
4. Place the embossed cookies on baking paper and let them dry in the fridge for about 5 hours before baking. Cookie biscuits can be baked immediately.

Bake

1. Preheat oven to 180°C or 356°F regular oven
2. Bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes, depending on their size. For crispier cookies, you can bake them a few minutes longer.

glazing

1. Allow the cookies to cool completely before glazing.
2. Mix together the powdered sugar, melted butter, and milk to create a runny glaze. Brush the cooled cookies with icing using a pastry brush. The frosting sets into the patterns of the embossed biscuits. Allow to harden before eating.

Nutritional Information:

Yield: 30

Serving size: 1

Amount per serving:

Calories: 136total fat: 5gSaturated Fatty Acids: 3gTrans fats: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 141mgCarbohydrates: 21gFiber: 1gSugar: 9gProtein: 2g