Sourdough Vanilla Wafers

These sourdough vanilla wafers are crisp, buttery, and lightly sweet with a hint of tang from sourdough discard. Perfect for snacking, layering in desserts or even gifting, they’re a nostalgic treat with a flavorful twist.

If you love sourdough cookie recipes, you might also enjoy these sourdough funfetti cookies, sourdough chocolate chip cookies or sourdough biscotti.

Why You Will Love This Recipe!

Delicately crisp with a sourdough twist – These wafers offer a light, buttery crunch infused with a subtle tang from sourdough starter, adding depth to the classic vanilla flavor.

A delicious way to use up discard – They're a creative and satisfying way to use sourdough discard, turning kitchen waste into a sweet, snackable treat.

Versatile and nostalgic – Whether eaten on their own, crumbled into pie crusts, or paired with pudding, these wafers bring back childhood memories with a homemade, grown-up upgrade.

Ingredients

• Butter - As always I've used salted butter, softened at room temperature.
• Sugar - white sugar or granulated sugar is fine here.
• Vanilla Paste - I recommend using vanilla paste for a strong vanilla flavor, but vanilla extract is fine here too if that's what you have on hand. I've tested the recipe with both and it tastes great with either. Vanilla paste will also give you those little flecks of vanilla through the cookies which looks pretty too.
• Egg - I've used one large egg, mine was 60g.
• Sourdough Starter - you can use active, bubbly sourdough starter or sourdough discard. Just a note though, if you are using discard, make sure your discard isn't too old and sour as it will give these sourdough vanilla wafers an unpleasant flavor. You can read more about the difference between sourdough starter and sourdough discard here.
• All Purpose Flour
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda - just a little bit of each create the perfect rise for these cookies. Measure this as accurately as possible as too much of either will affect the texture of the cookies. You don't want them to puff up too much.
• Salt - just a little salt to cut through the sweetness and provide some balance.

How To Make Sourdough Vanilla Wafer Cookies

I've chosen to create this recipe using a stand mixer because it makes it super easy, but as always you can achieve a similar result with an electric hand mixer or mixing by hand using a whisk. It's really up to you.

Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer and use the whisk attachment to cream together until light and fluffy.

Next add the vanilla paste and egg and continue to whisk until the egg is fully combined with the butter and sugar.

Now add the sourdough starter and continue to whisk. The mixture might look a little curdled at this point and that's ok. It will come back together once you add the flour.

I swap over to the paddle attachment for the next steps as it makes it easier. If you have been using a hand mixer, I recommend just using a spatula for the next part.

Add the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the bowl and mix until well combined. Try not to over mix the batter here, but you don't want to see any dry flour either.

At this stage, you want to cover the dough and place into the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, but up to 48 hours. This gives the dough time to ferment and firm up - otherwise, you won't be able to form it into balls. I highly recommend allowing this dough to ferment for at least 24 hours.

When you're ready to bake the sourdough vanilla cookies, preheat your oven to 170C (340F). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Use a cookie scoop to make balls of dough (mine are 25g in these photos). Roll the cookie dough balls into a small bowl of granulated sugar, before placing them onto your prepared baking sheets, remembering to leave plenty of space as the cookies will spread.

Bake the sourdough vanilla wafers for around 15 minutes or until the edges are just golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet before moving to a wire rack.

Serving Suggestions

These sourdough vanilla wafers are perfect served with your favorite coffee! A little me time moment, yes please! But here are some other creative ways you could use them:

Ice Cream Sandwiches - these make amazing ice cream sandwiches! We love spreading the with Nutella and then adding vanilla ice cream.

Sweet Dip - serve them with your favorite sweet dip, along with some fresh fruit, for a fun hands on dessert.

Trifle or Pudding - these sourdough vanilla wafers can be used as the base for a trifle or layered pudding dessert.

No Bake Pie Crust - you could also use these as a no bake pie crust by crushing them with some butter (I like to do this in a food processor).

How To Store + Freeze

These sourdough vanilla wafers are best stored in a cookie tin or glass jar. Storing in plastic will make them too soft and you'll lose the crispy edges. They will last for up to 5 days stored in a cookie tin or jar on the counter.

You can freeze the cookie dough balls and then bake them from frozen if you want to. They make a great "emergency" cookie. I snap freeze the cookie dough balls on a tray and then transfer to a zip loc bag once frozen. The cookie dough is good in the freeze for up to 3 months.

Share the sourdough love!