National Cookie Day is celebrated annually on December 4th. It’s a day to indulge in your favorite cookies, whether you bake them yourself, buy them from a bakery, or enjoy a store-bought treat. It’s a day to celebrate the simple joy of a delicious cookie!
But this year, we will use our sourdough starter to give those cookies and add a unique depth of flavor to cookies that regular cookies often lack. Here’s how:
- Tangy Bite: The fermentation process in sourdough starter creates lactic acid, giving the cookies a subtle tanginess that complements the sweetness. This adds complexity and prevents the cookies from tasting overly sweet.
- Enhanced Flavor: The fermentation also helps to break down the starches and proteins in the flour, which can enhance the overall flavor of the cookies.
- Chewier Texture: Sourdough can contribute to a chewier cookie texture due to the increased gluten development during fermentation.
Incorporating sourdough starter or discard into cookie recipes can elevate flavor and create a more nuanced and enjoyable treat.
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At the Alder home, we have made cut-out cookies on Christmas Eve for as long as I can recall. But his year, as part of the #12DaysOfSourdoughCookies, which began today, #NationalCookieDay, we are featuring Sourdough Christmas Cut-out Cookies made with real butter. Tonight, we are testing these in our kitchen, but first, here is a story from my wife, Sue Alder, about her experience with butter and cut-out cookies sixty years ago:
Christmas Cut-out Cookies Made With Real Butter
by Sue Alder
I took a bite of the first Christmas cut-out cookie I had iced. Involuntarily, a flood of memories filled my very being. I pause to revel in them. “So that’s what made them so different from my mothers,” I thought, “real butter!”
The memories flowed back to my childhood. There were seven, then eight, children in our family. We lived in a large, old, two-story, turn-of-the-century brick house.
Next door lived an older, grandparently couple. Their house always struck me with wonder. However, the particular memories that filled me as I savored this cookie were Christmas time ones.
Each Christmas, after the present opening had ended and wrappings were being burned in the fireplace, the phone would ring. “The Pauly’s just called,” my mother would say as she hung up the phone. “They want you children to come see the tree.”
Usually, just the youngest four of us would go. We eagerly bundled up because we knew “seeing the tree” meant much more.
Out the back door, we went. Down the steps, across the lawn, and through the friendly archway of trees and shrubs that joined our backyards together. Our lives, too, it seemed.
Mrs. Pauly always met us at the back door. As we entered the doorway, marvelous smells greeted our noses. Mrs. Pauly’s clean, perfumey smell, Mr. Pauly’s cigar smoke (to this day, when I smell his brand of cigar, I almost expect to turn and see him standing there), dinner in the oven, and the smell of cooling cut-out cookies.
We were invited into the living room. Mr. Pauly would sit in “his” chair, cane at this side, his leg propped, habitually rubbing his knee. Even with one droopy, lousy eye, he always looked to me to be the pretty much dignified old gentleman.
Both Pauly’s were white-haired. I don’t remember what he used to do, but she was a retired school teacher. They spent their time now caring for their beautiful yard, garden, and each other. They looked forward to each visit from their grandchildren. So did we.
In the corner of the living room stood the tree. Perfectly shaped and trimmed with ornaments that each held their own story.
There was one decoration standing on a table that was my personal favorite. It was made of golden metal. On top was the flat silhouette of an angel blowing a horn. Below that was something that looked like a propellor facing downward. Below were three more bugling angels, suspended, with chimes dangling from their feet; below were two bells and four candles on the base. When the candles were lit, the heat from the flame moved the propeller, which in turn forced the angels, whose chimes hit the bells, producing a most enchanting, tinkling sound. I could have sat and dreamed in front of it for hours.
Once seated on the couch, we were shown the latest pictures of their grandchildren. Some old ones, too. The presents received from children and grandchildren were displayed, and we discussed them.
Then came the part we had waited for, the real reason we were there. We were served freshly baked Christmas cut-out cookies. They were all sizes and shapes and had different colors and kinds of sprinkles on them. They melted in our mouths.
They somehow tasted different than my mother’s cut-out cookies. I loved Mrs. Pauly’s and my mother’s cookies, but they were different. I wondered if it was the smell of the cigar smoke, the sprinkles (my mother iced hers), or the atmosphere. It wasn’t until this very day I realized they were made with real butter.
Christmas Cut-out Cookies Made With Real Butter
INGREDIENTS for the COOKIES:
Based on my wife’s recipe and adjusted for sourdough from ashleymariefarmandbakery.com
- 2 cups/455 g butter, soft at room temperature
- 2 cups/250 g sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp/7.5 g almond extract
- 1 tsp/5 g lemon extract
- 2 tsp/10 g vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup/113 g of sourdough starter
- 6 cups/750 of all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp/4 g baking soda
- 1/2 tsp/3 g salt
INGREDIENTS for ICING:
- 3 cups/825 g powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup/113 g butter
- 1 1/2 Tbsp/22.5 g vanilla extract
- 2–4 tablespoons milk
- Optional food coloring of your choice
- Optional colored sugar, edible glitter, nonpareils, or frosting of your choice
DIRECTIONS for the COOKIES:
- In a stand mixer, cream sugar and butter together.
- Add eggs, vanilla, lemon, and almond extracts to the creamed sugar/butter
- Place all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and whisk together or place in a sifter
- Mix dry and wet ingredients until well combined.
- Cover and leave in a warm spot for 5-8 hours to allow the sourdough to ferment and transform the dough.
- Rest the dough for at least 2 hours or overnight for complete fermentation (see point #3).
- Once chilled, preheat oven to 350° F/ 177°C.
- Flour a work surface well and take just a quarter of the dough from the bowl. (Keep the remaining dough in the fridge while you work with the smaller portion.)
- Roll dough out to about 1/4 inch/1/2 cm thick.
- Cut out with holiday cookie cutters or a drinking glass
- “Place on a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet,” says Ashley Marie, ” and bake for approximately 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. You don’t want these cookies dark. You want them to be set in the middle and just starting to get golden on the edges.”
- Repeat the steps for the remaining dough.
- Allow cookies to cool, and then proceed with icing and decorating.
DIRECTIONS for the ICING:
- Combine butter, sugar, vanilla, and one tablespoon of milk in a small bowl.
- Add each tablespoon of milk slowly and thoroughly combine each time until you get a spreading consistency.
- If desired, tint with food coloring.
- Frost and decorate cookies as desired.
- Let cookies dry for a few hours.
- If you keep the icing a medium to a thick consistency, the cookies will crust up enough to stack but be soft enough to sink your teeth into.
I used this new, revised recipe mixing the ingredients a couple of days in advance, to get the most out of the sourdough fermentation process, chilling them in the fridge for a couple of days. The sweet, sourdough tang complemented the sweet icing and the texture was buttery and very good.