Fermented Gingerbread
It is so easy to make sourdough fermented gingerbread cookies. The key to making a great sourdough cookie is weighing the ingredients with a kitchen scale, and making sure you mix the ingredients in the correct order.
The order in which you mix the ingredients determines the texture of the cookie. Follow the directions in the recipe card to incorporate sourdough starter into these cookies while maintaining a quality cookie texture.
Also, fermenting cookie dough should always be kept in the fridge, never at room temperature!
Soft Fermented Gingerbread Cookies
These cookies are so soft and delicate; they really do melt in your mouth. The texture reminds me of those big sugar cookies with the excessive icing and sprinkles on top. These are obviously much healthier, though!
For this recipe, you will ferment the cookie dough in the fridge overnight (12 hours) to develop the gingerbread’s flavors and make the cookies easier to digest.
Once you’ve mixed the cookie dough, cover it and stick it in the fridge for up to 24 hours before you scoop it into balls and bake (or freeze).
How to Prep and Freeze the Cookie Dough for Later!
- After you portion out the cookie dough and roll it into balls (step 8 in the recipe), you can place the dough balls in an airtight bag and freeze.
- Store in the freezer for up to 6 months
- To bake, place the frozen cookie dough balls on a parchment paper-lined pan and bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes.
- They may need a couple of extra minutes when baking from frozen.
My Favorite Ways to Decorate
I decorate these cookies in four ways! This gives the whole batch of cookies such a beautiful, wintery variety. When I bring these to holiday gatherings, people always love the option of having a non-decorated cookie too.
- icing drizzle
- icing dollop
- powdered sugar
- plain
Sourdough Gingerbread Cookies
I’m sure some people will be curious if you can use sourdough discard instead of active starter in these gingerbread cookies. Yes, you can!
You can use discard straight from the fridge, or you can use an active bubbly starter in this recipe. Some cookies are considered “sourdough discard” cookies because you use sourdough starter in the recipe, but we don’t use it for rising, and it is not necessary for the baking process. So the starter is considered “discarded” into the recipe.
In this recipe, we are using the starter to ferment the ingredients in the dough. Therefore, I use a stirred-down active, bubbly sourdough starter in all of my sourdough cookie recipes. (see directions below on how to make a gingerbread sourdough starter!)
You can use flat sourdough discard from the fridge if you prefer, but the cookie dough might not ferment as well.
Pictured above are my original cookies, photographed by me (Kaitlynn) for this blog in 2022. Pictured below is the same recipe, made by Jon and me in 2025 to test out my gingerbread sourdough starter!
More Sourdough Cookie Recipes
- Soft and Chewy Sourdough Peanut Butter Cookies
- Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pumpkin and Pecans
- Ginger Molasses Gluten-Free Sourdough Cookies
Making a Gingerbread Sourdough Starter
For Christmas 2025, I tried something new with these cookies. I created a gingerbread sourdough starter to use in this recipe! I made it by feeding some of my established starter a mix that includes molasses and gingerbread spices.
When I shared pics of the dark, molasses-y starter on Instagram, I was surprised by how many of you wanted the recipe. I usually make a ton of these cookies to enjoy myself and to give as gifts. To make so many cookies, I aim to use 300 grams of this starter total. Note that different types of flour absorb different amounts of liquid, so if you ever need to add a little extra water to a starter to get it the right consistency, you can! Here is the recipe:
- 30 grams established starter
- 150 grams bread flour
- 60 grams water
- 60 grams organic unsulfured blackstrap molasses
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ginger powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 3-4 extra tablespoons of water (if needed)
Just mix all the ingredients and let it ferment until it peaks. I suggest mixing the water, established starter, and molasses together first, then mixing in the flour, spices, and any extra water needed. There is plenty of sugar and vitamins in molasses, and you’re feeding an established starter here. Therefore, you should see it bubble up and peak pretty quickly. My gingerbread starter peaked, then I stirred it down, and it peaked again.
Sourdough Fermented Gingerbread Cookies
Sourdough fermented gingerbread cookies are a delicious and unique twist on the classic Christmas cookie. These soft, melt-in-your-mouth sourdough gingerbread cookies are spiced with ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg for the perfect flavor. Leave them plain or decorate them with icing and powdered sugar.
- Prep: 15 minutes
- Ferment: 12 hours
- Cook: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 340 g all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 200 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 150 g cane sugar
- 120 g molasses
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 14 g vanilla extract
- 100 g sourdough starter (active, hydrated)
Instructions
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the softened butter, cane sugar, and molasses together until combined.
- Scrape down the bowl and add the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract, and sourdough starter.
- Mix well until light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold together with a spatula until combined.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or reusable beeswax wrap and refrigerate the dough for 12 hours overnight.*
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop the dough out into about 1-inch balls, then drop them 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. (For big cookies you can roll the dough into 50 gram balls)
- Bake at 350°F for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are set on the edges
- Allow to cool completely on the pan.
- Decorate the cookies with icing or powdered sugar or leave them plain.*
Notes
- You can refrigerate the dough for just 1 hour and bake sooner, but then the cookies won’t be as fermented.
- To make icing, mix 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 1 to 2 tsp milk. You only need to add enough milk for your desired icing consistency. Add a tiny bit of milk to the sugar at a time to see how thick it is before adding more milk.
- To make a gingerbread starter to use in these cookies:
- 30 grams established starter
- 150 grams bread flour
- 60 grams water
- 60 grams organic unsulfured blackstrap molasses
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ginger powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 3-4 extra tablespoons of water (if needed)
These cookies took me straight back to my childhood, my grandma used to give us ginger nut cookies as kids, but these are a million times better, absolute amazing recipe, worked perfect, tasted amazing and look incredible! thank you thank you 🙂
These were delightful! Not a fan of nutmeg so I substituted for clove. I will absolutely make these again and I’m looking forward to sharing them with family and friends this holiday season.
These are so good! Surprisingly delicate and light for a gingerbread cookie. I was out of white sugar, so used brown sugar as a replacement for part of the sugar and molasses.
Thank you for leaving a review! Glad to hear you enjoyed the gingerbread cookies for the holidays!
I made this recipe and the cookies are the best of the best! Super fluffy, soft, and tasty, with delicious crunchy edges –it was really hard to stop eating them haha.
I made them with sourdough discard since I didn’t have an active starter, and I added a bit of grounded cloves; they turned out really good.
I want to bake a batch with less sugar to make them less sweet for my niece. Any suggestion on how to modify that without changing too much the consistency of the cookies?
I love the idea of a gingerbread starter! Especially with making gingerbread baked goods for the Christmas season. How would using the gingerbread starter make the recipe different? Do you just substitute it for the regular sourdough starter and not alter any of the dry spices? (Forgive me if I missed this information in the post, I reread it multiple times before asking but couldn’t find it if it is there). Thank you!
yeah! you just sub. The gingerbread starter just adds more spice and more flavor!
Amazing!!! Absolutely amazing!!!