Use your sourdough starter discard to make these delicious oil-free cookies!

Oatmeal is a favorite food at our house. We eat so much of it that I actually order it in 25 pound bags—for two people! Today I’m adding another oatmeal recipe to go along with Oatmeal Cookie Granola, Best Corn-Oat Waffles, Overnight Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal, Caramel-Topped Oatmeal Cake, Trilby Cookies, and my Instant Oatmeal Mix. Not only does this recipe use wonderful oats, but it’s a great way to use up some of the sourdough discard that starts building up as you maintain your starter.

Oatmeal is a great staple, full of soluble fiber, which is very health-promoting. Fiber feeds your gut microbiome, helps prevent constipation, provides satiety (makes you feel full), pulls cholesterol and fat out of your body, and lowers your risk of heart disease and diabetes. We should eat at least 40 grams a fiber a day, which we get from fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, and nuts (animal-based foods, such as meat and dairy, don’t contain any fiber at all). Oatmeal has 8.2 grams of fiber per cup, so why not enjoy it in a cookie?

Making Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

The first thing to do is to make a flax egg equivalent to two eggs. A flax egg is a great substitute for animal eggs in baking and it adds even more fiber, since eggs don’t have any at all. You simply combine ground flax and water and let it sit for 5 minutes to thicken. 1 tablespoon of ground flax in 3 tablespoons of water is equivalent to 1 egg, so this recipe uses 2 tablespoons of flax in 6 tablespoons of water. Look how thick the flax-water mixture gets after sitting, it’s just like an egg:

On left, flax meal and water when first mixed; right, after sitting 5 minutes.

While the flax egg is sitting, combine the wet ingredients for this cookie. Mix together pumpkin or sweet potato puree (this substitutes for butter and adds more fiber—you can also use apple sauce or other fruit puree) and date or coconut sugar. A little salt is added along with baking soda, which neutralizes the acid in the sourdough starter so it’s not so tangy, vanilla, and cinnamon. Now you add your prepared flax egg and sourdough starter or discard.

All wet ingredients combined.

Now you simply stir in rolled oats, whole wheat pastry flour, and raisins. You can use any dried fruit you like—dried cherries and cranberries are particularly yummy in this!

All thoroughly mixed and ready to chill.

This dough is really wet at this point. If you scooped it onto a baking sheet now they would ooze and spread, not stay in a nice lump. So cover your bowl, put it into the refrigerator at least 30 minutes, up to 12 hours, and let the oats and whole wheat pull in that extra moisture and hydrate. You’ll be amazed how much this dough stiffens up after this rest!

Now you can scoop your dough. I use a big scoop for big cookies, a #20 size, which is 3.2 tablespoons. You can use whatever size scoop you want. They don’t spread a lot, so I space them about one scoop distance apart on a silicone baking mat covered baking sheet (you can also use parchment).

Big scoops of dough after chilling.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven. My big scoops take 18 minutes, regular cookie scoops take 9-12 minutes.

After baked.

And there you have it, yummy oatmeal raisin cookies! These are super great with a glass of plant-based milk!

Alan’s snack with a little light reading…

So, if you’ve got a glut of sourdough discard in your refrigerator like I do, make up a batch or three of these wonderfully moist cookies. And if you don’t have any sourdough discard, consider making a sourdough starter just so you can enjoy these cookies! Sourdough’s not just for bread and using it for cookies is a great way to ease into sourdough baking!

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4.58 from 7 votes

Sourdough Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This is a great way to use sourdough discard! These cake-like cookies are delicious and are a hit with kids and grown-ups alike!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American, Kids, Nut-Free, Soy-Free

Keyword Flax Seed, oatmeal, Pumpkin, raisins, Sourdough, Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

Servings 20

Calories 167kcal

Author Cindy Thompson, MS, NBC-HWC | Trimazing! Health & Lifestyle Coaching

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• 14 grams ground flax meal 2 tablespoons
• 90 grams water 6 tablespoons
• 170 grams pumpkin puree, or mashed sweet potato 3/4 cup, or even applesauce or other fruit puree
• 200 grams date sugar or coconut sugar, 1 cup
• 3 grams salt 1/2 teaspoon
• 5 grams baking soda 1 teaspoon
• 5 grams vanilla 1 teaspoon
• 4 grams cinnamon 1 teaspoon
• 170 grams sourdough discard or ripe sourdough starter
• 150 grams rolled oats 1 1/2 cups
• 175 grams whole wheat pastry flour 1 1/2 cups
• 200 grams raisins or other dried fruit cherries are delicious in this, 1 1/4 cups

Instructions

• In a small bowl, whisk together ground flax meal and water until frothy. Let stand at least 5 minutes to thicken.
• In a large bowl or electric mixer, mix together pumpkin puree and date sugar. Add salt, baking soda, vanilla, and cinnamon and mix well to combine. Add thickened flax meal and sourdough discard. Mix on low speed, scraping down sides of bowl to incorporate all wet ingredients.
• Stir in oats, flour, and then raisins. Cover and chill dough at least 30 minutes or up to 12 hours.
• Heat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheet with parchment or silicone baking sheets. Scoop dough using desired-size scoop (I use a #20, 3.2-tablespoon scoop). Bake 9-18 minutes, depending upon size of your scoop (#20 scoop takes 18 minutes).
• Remove to a rack to cool.

Notes

Adapted from a recipe from the King Arthur Baking School to be whole food, plant-based, and oil-fee.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 167kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 1g | Sodium: 133mg | Potassium: 168mg | Fiber: 3g | Vitamin A: 1884IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1mg