Sourdough Surprises #9 - Cookies!

This can't be right. It can't be the day that we share our Sourdough Surprises results for the month. Because that means that there are only five days left before Christmas and I am so not ready!

Aside from the fact that the holidays are the perfect cookie-baking time of year (though, is there ever a bad time of year for baking cookies?), I had extra incentive to bake cookies. You see, I volunteered to be on the Staff Appreciation committee at little miss's elementary school. And last week they had a cookie day for the teachers. Each member of the committee baked enough cookies so that, when all was said an done, there would be enough for each staff member to take home two dozen delicious goodies. What a great idea!

What better way to offer variety than to make several sourdough varieties?

And may I mention, for a brief moment, how proud I am of that healthy starter you see up there? This month marks its one year anniversary and, despite a scare or two, it's still going strong!

Anyway, for my first variety, I chose to try these pumpkin spice cookies (thought I decided to forgo the sandwich filling aspect...).  My favorite part was seeing the rainbow array of spices.

The dough came together very easily, but felt a bit more like cake batter than cookie dough.

Which might explain why they baked up kind of cakey, too!

But they were light and delicious, and really captured the flavor of the season.

And, in case you were wondering, the froze beautifully - once they cooled completely, I carefully bagged up two dozen and popped them into the freezer until the day before the staff cookie day, and by morning they were perfect!

After the pumpkin spice cookies, I then made a batch of (regular, non-sourdough) gingerbread cookies, to go on the seasonable theme.

And then the coordinator of the Staff Appreciation day let us know that they might be a few dozen cookies short.

Well, hey - prefect opportunity for more sourdough cookies!  To change things up, I went for something different - these sourdough chocolate chip oatmeal cookie bars.  I figured I'd be able to get three dozen decent sized pieces from the batch.

And I was on a roll.

The dough came together beautifully, I spread it out nicely and evenly in my pan, and they smelled amazing as they baked.

And I thought I'd allowed them to cool completely before trying to cut them... but I guess they weren't totally set.

Because they kind of made a mess.

Umm... crumbly and totally not neat, share-able squares.

Thankfully, I was able to salvage two dozen squared from the middle of the pan.

And those non-presentable ones made for some super delicious snacking here at home.

And from what I understand, the teachers were thrilled with the variety of cookies provided, so I'm hoping that these were a hit!

I can't wait to see all of the delicious cookies you guys have made over this past month. So link up!


Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Cookies
(from The Chalk Board)


1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, sourdough starter and pumpkin. Mix well. Combine flour with remaining dry ingredients and add to mixture. Mix until blended.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake at for 15 minutes or until done.
Cool on a rack until completely cool.


Sourdough Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Bars
(from The Manly Housekeeper)


1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sourdough starter (fed or unfed, doesn’t matter)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Cream together the butter and sugars. Beat on medium-high speed for 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.
Add the eggs and beat thoroughly. Then add the sourdough starter and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Next, add the reserved dry ingredients. The dough will be fairly wet.
Add the rolled oats and chocolate chips and mix thoroughly. Spread out the dough onto a sheet pan (the one I use is 11×17 inches).
Bake for 20 minutes. Wait until the cookies are completely cool before cutting.

Enjoy!