Sourdough Discard Snickerdoodles Cookies from Ginger Homemaking

Sourdough Discard Snickerdoodle Cookies - made dough June 26, 2025 from Ginger Homemaking 

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup sourdough discard

2 large eggs

Coating

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, sourdough discard and vanilla, beating on low speed until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients in 2 additions, beating on low speed after each addition until just combined. Portion into golf-ball size dough balls.
5. In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup granulated sugar with cinnamon, mixing until uniform. Roll dough balls in mixture, coating completely. Evenly space on baking sheets and bake 9-11 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

I have to admit, I've been stress baking quite a bit lately. The act of baking not only brings me some comfort but it helps me to share baked goods with the people around me: the women (and their husbands) from my quilting group, the smart, articulate people in my book club, the long-time friends I get together with when I go to the Bay Area, the compassionate volunteers I work with at the food bank and other local friends I go out with. The sharing shows my appreciation for the good, decent people in my life and how much I appreciate their goodness and kindness, especially over the past 6 months.

It's not the baking and the sharing that's caused me angst. It's writing the posts on my blog. Because it's hard to sound "normal" or talk about cookies like things aren't dire. Because they are. Because we're watching the US slide towards authoritarianism in real time, brown people are being hunted, kidnapped and disappeared into - let's call them what they are - concentration camps sanewashed as "detention facilities". Federal employees are losing their jobs for no good reason, there's an obscene transfer of wealth towards the 1% who don't need it at the expense of people being thrown off their health insurance, losing Medicaid and food assistance not to mention all of us paying more for everything because of tariffs. The list goes on and I haven't even touched on the torching of science, research, public health, national parks and a disgusting amount of even more that makes our country smaller, poorer, harder and sadder.

So yes, it's hard to keep writing about, "hey, these snickerdoodles are really good". They are and also, let's see the unredacted Epstein files, yeah? Ugh.

ETA: correction, the only redactions I want to see in the Epstein files are the names and identities of the girls who were abused and trafficked. Everyone else, be they Republicans or Democrats or neither, should be named. Everyone.

Honestly, I don't know where to go from here. If you're turned off by "politics" and don't want to read about the real world on a baking blog, my blog isn't for you and I'm okay with that. Goodbye. But congratulations on your privilege to be able to look away and just think about cookies. I can't anymore. 

Shout out to Shugary Sweets, a blog I've gotten amazing recipes from for years. I caught her feed on Instagram and she's been vocal about speaking out against the fascism. Which is something we all need to do.