Ingredients
Let’s look at the ingredients and their possible replacements.
Sourdough Dump. This recipe is perfect for using up leftover sourdough starter—we use 220g of it! You can also use an active sourdough starter, but I don’t think it will make much of a difference. Once the dough comes together, it goes straight into the fridge, so there is no extended fermentation time. In fact, I don’t recommend letting these cookies ferment on the counter, as that can develop gluten—and we don’t want that! (Tough cookies, anyone?)
Like most of my sourdough recipes, you’ll need a sourdough starter at 100% hydration, which means it comes from a starter that is fed equal parts water and flour. That’s really important! Using a different level of hydration can throw off the recipe, adding too much or too little liquid.
Butter. We use melted, unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter, that’s fine—just skip the extra salt.
For a vegan alternative, use vegan butter. I do not recommend using oils like avocado or olive oil as substitutes in this recipe. When I tried to use oil, the cookies spread more.
Molasses. Use 100% pure molasses. If you don’t like molasses or need a substitute, honey or vegan honey works just as well.
Sugar. Granulated sugar works perfectly—there’s no need for brown sugar because the molasses already adds that rich, caramelized flavor.
Flour. Use white all-purpose flour in this recipe.
Baking soda. Do not skip this ingredient! Baking soda is important to reduce the sour taste of the dough and to help the cookies rise. Without it, you’ll end up with tough cookies. And no, baking powder is not a good place here.
