Sourdough Heart Shaped Cookies for Valentine’s Day

Sourdough Heart Shaped Cookies

Sourdough Heart-Shaped Cookies for Valentine’s Day are a healthier option, thanks to the sourdough fermentation process, which can make them easier to digest.

Baking these cookies is a fun activity with kids, allowing creative kitchen fun(and learning)! Their unique taste and heart shape make them an exceptional homemade gift that genuinely comes from the heart.

Perfect for Valentine’s Day, these cookies add a touch of personal love and care to your V-day treats.

Heart Shaped Sugar Cookies

I love rolling out these cookies very thin so that they are crisp and snappy sugar cookies. You can roll them out thicker for a softer sugar cookie.

You can also decorate these however you’d like! Decorate them with icing, royal icing, or with sprinkles. For the sprinkles here, I rolled out the dough, sprinkled the hot pink sprinkles over it, and then rolled the sprinkles into the cookies before cutting them out.

You can use a heart shaped cookie cutter, but I didn’t have one. So I drew hearts on some cardboard, cut them out, and then traced the hearts into the dough with a knife.

I love these dye-free naturally colored sprinkles:

• Supernaturals Hot Pink Sprinkles
• Rainbow Natural Sprinkles
• Rainbow Star Sprinkles

Using Brown Butter in Sugar Cookies

Brown butter, also known as beurre noisette, is a magical ingredient that elevates the flavor of sugar cookies to a whole new level. It’s basically the only butter I want in cookies these days. When you gently cook the butter until it turns a rich, nutty brown, it undergoes a transformative process known as the Maillard reaction, in which the milk solids caramelize and develop a complex, deep flavor profile.

The most important part to remember when using browned butter is to allow it to cool to room temperature before you use it in the recipe. If you dip a finger in the butter, it should not feel warm at all.

Using Sourdough Starter in Cookies

Sourdough starter, a mixture of flour and water fermented by wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria, is typically used in bread-making. However, it can also be employed in various baked goods, including these heart shaped cookies, to add moisture and richer flavor.

You can use an active sourdough starter or sourdough starter discard straight from the fridge.

Long Fermented Sourdough Heart Shaped Cookies

You can also long ferment these heart-shaped sugar cookies to make them easier to digest. If digestibility concerns you, use an active, bubbly sourdough starter. Once you mix the cookie dough, divide it, wrap it, and ferment it in the fridge for 24-72 hours before rolling it out.

Sourdough Discard

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Sourdough Heart Shaped Cookies for Valentine’s Day

Try our Sourdough Heart Shaped Cookies this Valentine’s! They’re a classic sourdough sugar cookie, cut into heart shapes with natural sprinkles. Perfect for sharing love 💕🍪.

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• Prep: 2 hours
• Cook: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

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Ingredients

• 224 grams salted butter
• 325 grams organic cane sugar
• 3 grams cinnamon (1 teaspoon)
• 2 large eggs
• 100 grams sourdough discard
• 10 grams vanilla extract
• 600 grams all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 5 grams sea salt
• sprinkles

Instructions

1. Brown the butter in a small saucepan until bubbly, and dark golden to light brown. Stir it continuously, careful not to burn it.  Remove from heat and allow the butter to cool completely to room temperature.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside
3. In a separate bowl, cream together the room-temperature brown butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until well incorporated.
4. Add the vanilla and sourdough discard to the butter-sugar mixture and mix until combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until evenly incorporated.
6. Divide the dough into two discs and wrap with plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 2 hours or up to 3 days for a long fermentation.
7. Preheat your oven to 350° F.
8. Place one disc of dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll it out to a 1/4-inch thickness. The dough should be stiff and firm, and it takes a little effort to roll it out. Let the dough come closer to room temperature to make it easier.
9. After I remove the parchment paper, I like to sprinkle colorful sprinkles over the top and roll it again to press the sprinkles in.  Alternatively, you can leave the cookies smooth and decorate them however you’d like after baking.
10. Use cookie cutters to cut out hearts. Refrigerate the cut out cookies for about 30 minutes before baking.
11. Bake for 10 minutes, until the edges start to turn golden.
12. Allow to cool completely.

Kaitlynn Fenley Author, Educator, Food Microbiologist

Kaitlynn is a food microbiologist and fermentation expert teaching people how to ferment foods and drinks at home.

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