Cookies for breakfast? Really? Yes! These look like cookies, but they are more of a cross between a muffin and a yeast bread, and they are reasonably nutritious as well as being soft, squishy, and delicious. I use a rye-based starter, but it's not critical. Whole-grain rye flour and oats go into the batter lending deep, rich flavor. Pineapple complements the tang of the sourdough, and allspice as well as a small amount of brown sugar and molasses give the cookies sweet warmth. Plump golden raisins provide more sweetness and enhance the pineapple and sourdough flavors. You'll note that the breakfast cookies have no baking powder or baking soda in them. The cookies get their lift during the sourdough process, which also gives the cookies incredible flavor. The cookies are great warm out of the oven, but you can also pop leftover cookies in the toaster later in the week for a quick breakfast treat or afternoon snack.
Sourdough Pineapple Breakfast Cookies -- Makes 18
1 cup of sourdough discard/starter (rye or other)
1 1/2 cups of crushed pineapple with juice
1/4 cup of canola oil
2 tablespoons of dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of molasses
1 cup of rye flour
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of oats (quick or old fashioned)
1 teaspoon of allspice
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of golden raisins
Turbinado or raw sugar (optional)
In a large bowl, mix together the starter, pineapple and juice, canola oil, sugars, and molasses until well combined. Add the flours, oats, allspice, salt, and raisins and stir everything for 2-3 minutes. The batter will be stiff. Keep stirring. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let the batter rise until about doubled--about 8 hours. Stir the batter down well and let it rise again--overnight works well. Stir the batter down a third time and then spoon mounds of batter--about the size of golf balls--onto parchment lined baking sheets. Don't put more than 9 mounds on each sheet, as the batter will rise and spread. Sprinkle the batter mounds with the turbinado sugar, if you'd like. Let the the mounds rise for 30-60 minutes until puffed and about double. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes. Let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheets before removing them to cool completely.
