Easy Sourdough Gingerbread Scones – Discard Recipe

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You’re sure to love these easy sourdough gingerbread scones made with sourdough discard, gingerbread flavor, warm spices, and lightly sweetened with rich molasses for a delightful treat.  

Having a stash of go-to sourdough discard recipes like muffins, quick breads, or pancakes is a must when keeping a sourdough starter. I must admit, my favorite discard recipes are scones! They’re quick, easy, and so much fun. Pus. they’re not overly sweet, perfect to pair with my morning coffee or as an afternoon snack. 

Ginger is synonymous with the holiday season for our family. It’s the time of the year when I feel like I’m adding ground ginger and molasses to almost everything. From decorating a gingerbread house and gingerbread men to munching on sourdough gingerbread cookies, we just can’t get enough.

Sourdough Benefits

I love baking with sourdough around here. I find that adding sourdough starter adds a depth of flavor to any baked good. Long before commercial yeast products were readily available, keeping an active starter was the only leavening agent used to give bread its rise. In addition, the bacteria present in active sourdough starter and sourdough discard helps to break down the phytic acid found in grains during a long fermentation, making the food easier to digest. 

Easy Sourdough Gingerbread Scones Ingredients

• Sourdough starter – While you can use active sourdough starter, this recipe was intended as a great way to use up sourdough starter discard.
• ​Egg – Making scones or biscuits are the one of the few exceptions when it comes to using room temperature eggs. Keep all of the ingredients as cold as possible when making scones.
• Whole milk – I always use whole milk, but you can use what you have.
• Vanilla extract – Use homemade or store-bought vanilla extract to flavor the scones.
• Butter – Use cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces.  
• Brown sugar – Just a touch for a light sweetness.
• Molasses – Regular molasses is boiled 2 times and produces a light and sweet syrup, ideal for this gingerbread scone recipe. Save the blackstrap molasses for your baked beans or homemade BBQ sauce, which can handle it’s deep and robust flavor.  
• Flour – Unbleached all-purpose flour is ideal to create a tender crumb.
• Spices – Cinnamon, cloves, and ginger flavor the scones.
• Baking powder – Provides the lift in the scones.
• Salt – Adds flavor to any baked goods.
• Coarse sugar – This step is optional to top the scones, but I highly recommend it for added texture!

Easy Sourdough Gingerbread Scones Instructions

Same-Day Instructions

Mixing the Dough

Add the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground cloves to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse a few times to combine. Next, add pieces of the butter, and pulse until the butter and flour combine to create coarse crumbs. 

Alternatively, to mix by hand, add the dry ingredients into a large bowl, stirring to combine. Add pieces of cold butter to the flour mixture and cut in using a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 

In a separate bowl, add the sourdough starter discard, whole milk, egg, vanilla extract, and brown sugar and mix until well blended. Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture and pulse until just combined.

Shape and Chill

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a round, 8″ disc, roughly 1′ tall. Wrap the dough in a piece of plastic wrap and place dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour. 

While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

​Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. 

Bake

Unwrap the scone dough and cut into 8 equal wedges using a sharp knife or bench scraper. Place wedges onto the prepared baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Brush the tops of the scones with milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Place the scones in the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. The edges of the scones will just be starting to turn a light golden brown. 

Remove scones from the baking tray and place onto a cooling rack. 

Long-Ferment Gingerbread Scones Instructions

​Prepare the scone dough in the same way as the Same Day Instructions, wrap the disc of dough, and refrigerate. Rather than chill for 1 hour, ferment in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Continue with baking directions. ​

Store

Place leftover sourdough gingerbread scones in an airtight container up to 3 days at room temperature. 

Can I Freeze Sourdough Gingerbread Scones?

Yes! It’s one of my favorite tricks to have home baked goods around the holidays without spending all of my time in the kitchen.

I like to cut the scones into wedges before freezing. This way I can bake as many or few an I’d like straight from the oven. Place unbaked scone wedges onto a baking sheet 1 inch apart and freeze for 1 hour.

Remove frozen scones from the baking sheet and place them into a plastic freezer bag, removing as much air as possible. Label with the name and date and freeze up to 3 months. To freeze baked scones, bake scones as directed, but without adding milk and sugar to the top of the scone. Place on a wire rack and allow to cool completely before placing into a freezer bag. 

Thaw baked scones at room temperature and enjoy.

Tips

• Don’t overbake the scones for soft, tender scones.
• Work the dough as little as possible. The more the dough is worked, the more gluten forms, creating a tougher dough.
• Use cold ingredients! If the ingredients or dough warm up to room temperature, refrigerate for a few hours, or place in the freezer for 20 minutes. Keeping the butter cold helps the butter from leaking out during the baking process, and instead, keeps it in the dough to create a flaky, tender scones.