Sourdough Funfetti Cookies

These sourdough funfetti cookies are soft, chewy, and bursting with colorful sprinkles! Perfect for celebrations or just because. The sourdough discard adds a subtle tang that balances the sweetness and gives the cookies a rich, complex flavor.

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword Sourdough Discard

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Fermentation Time 1

Total Time 1 30

Servings Cookies

Calories 166kcal

Equipment

Stand Mixer
Cookie Scoop (1 tablespoon)
Baking Trays (2 large trays)

Ingredients

120 g Butter (salted, softened at room temp)
275 g Sugar
5 g Vanilla Paste (or extract)
1 Egg (large, mine was around 60g)
1 Egg Yolk (around 15g)
120 g Sourdough Starter (or sourdough discard)
260 g All Purpose Flour
4 g Baking Powder
4 g Baking Soda
4 g Salt
65 g Sprinkles (plus more for topping - see notes)

Instructions

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.
I recommend swapping 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 at this stage.
Now it's time to add the sprinkles. If you're using smaller sprinkles, I find it's totally ok to use the stand mixer as they don't tend to break. If you're using larger sprinkles, you might consider doing this part by hand so that they don't break. It's really up to you.
Once the sprinkles are mixed through, cover the sourdough funfetti cookie dough and place into the fridge to ferment. For the best results, allow the sourdough funfetti cookie dough to ferment for around 24 hours.
As a minimum leave the dough in the fridge for 2 hours to firm up otherwise you won't be able to scoop it and form balls and it will spread too much in the oven.
When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 170C. Prepare 2 large baking sheets or 3 smaller ones. You can use parchment if you want to - I haven't for these cookies.
Use a cookie scoop to make balls of dough (I've made mine 24g per cookie). Place the cookie dough balls onto your prepared baking sheets, remembering to leave plenty of space as the cookies will spread.
If you want to have extra sprinkles on top, you can add a small pile of sprinkles on each cookie dough scoop.
Bake the sourdough funfetti cookies for 15 minutes at 170C. Remove from the oven while they are still soft in the middle and allow them to cool on the tray for around 15 minutes before moving them to a wire rack too cool completely.

Notes

Rainbow Sprinkles - I've used large Betty Crocker Parlour Perfect Rainbow Sprinkles. You can use any sprinkles you want or even hundreds and thousands if you prefer. 65g is enough for a generous amount of sprinkles throughout, but if you do want to have plenty of sprinkles on top, I recommend either rolling the cookie dough balls in sprinkles before placing them on the tray or sprinkling them with extra sprinkles before baking to ensure even color distribution.

Fermentation - I have tested this recipe so many times I think my kids actually got a bit sick of it! It definitely works best when fermented for at least 24 hours. It holds it's shape best when baked cold from the fridge - so mix it, ferment it, shape it into balls and then bake it while the dough is still cold. Alternatively, you can mix it, ferment it, shape it into balls and freeze it, then bake from balls.

Nutrition