sourdough peanut butter cookies

This recipe is a great alternative to the standard peanut butter cookie and provides another easy way to use sourdough starter.

Yield: 24 cookies, using 1 tablespoon of batter per cookie
120 calories per cookie
Active time: 5 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes

ingredients

1/2 cup unfed sourdough starter, straight from the fridge is fine as long as it has been stirred down

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, melted at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg

preparation
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix together the peanut butter, sourdough starter, egg, brown sugar, and butter.  Blend, with a hand mixer, until a smooth batter forms.

I've been maintaining a sourdough starter for 3 weeks.  (See step 3 of "semolina bread" for more information on starter maintenance and additional recipes.) The photo on the left is unstirred and the photo on the right is the sourdough starter after stirring it down.

3. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and blend with the hand mixer. You may have to use a spatula for straggling batter that's sticking to the side of the bowl. The batter will be thick. Refrigerate the batter for 10 minutes.

4. Using a tablespoon, take a scoop of the batter. Use a second metal kitchen spoon to drop the batter portion from the tablespoon onto a parchment or silpat lined cookie sheet. The cookies will spread out a little during the make, so leave about 1 inch between them. Cover lightly with sprinkles, if desired.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20, until the cookies are golden brown around the edges.

Original recipe found here.