Name: Sourdough Hot Cross Easter Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 165 min
Ingredients: 125 g Butter; 175 g Brown Sugar; 2 Eggs; 5 g Vanilla Extract; 150 g Sourdough Starter ((or sourdough discard)); 320 g All Purpose Flour; 5 g Baking Powder; 2 tsp Cinnamon ((ground)); 1 tsp All Spice; 1/2 tsp Nutmeg; 1 Zest of 1 Lemon ((zest only)); 100 g Raisins; 150 g Powdered Sugar ((icing sugar)); 20 g Boiling Water

If you love Hot Cross Buns at Easter time, then you are going to love these sourdough hot cross cookies! They have all the delicious flavors of traditional sourdough hot cross buns, but with a sourdough cookie twist!

There's just so much to love about these Easter themed sourdough cookies! With juicy raisins, fragrant spices and a hint of lemon zest, these Easter sourdough hot cross cookies are full of flavor.

If you are looking for other Easter themed sourdough recipes then make sure you check out these sourdough hot cross buns, sourdough carrot cake and sourdough chocolate star bread.

Sourdough hot cross cookies displayed on a black wire rack. There is also a blue dish towel to the left of the rack as well as a small pink Easter gift card.

Why You'll Love This Recipe!

Longer Shelf Life than Hot Cross Buns - these sourdough hot cross cookies will last a good week, if not more, making them a longer lasting option than traditional sourdough hot cross buns.

Great for Easter Gifting - the longer shelf life of these Easter themed sourdough cookies make them the perfect gift for friends and family!

Different Flavors & Add-Ins - you can change the flavor profile of these sourdough hot cross cookies if you'd prefer. You can add chocolate chips, different spices or even other fruits. I've created a list of possible flavor variations towards the end of the post.

A black wire cooling rack with a stack of sourdough hot cross cookies that have been iced.

Should You Use Active Sourdough Starter or Sourdough Discard?

You can use either active sourdough starter or sourdough discard for this recipe because you are actually using baking powder to leaven the Easter cookies with.

I advise using discard that isn't too old or sour, otherwise you might make your cookies taste a bit unpleasant.

How To Make Sourdough Hot Cross Cookies for Easter

I love that the dough for these sourdough Easter hot cross cookies can be fermented in the fridge for up to 24 hours. They are much like these sourdough pfeffernusse cookies, although I would argue they taste even better!

I have chosen to mix these cookies by hand in a bowl using a whisk and spatula. You can use a stand mixer to cream the butter and sugar etc if you prefer, but I don't feel that it makes any difference to the final product.

A flat lay of ingredients necessary to make sourdough hot cross cookies.

Add the butter and brown sugar to a large mixing bowl and whisk until it looks a bit like wet sand.

Now add the vanilla extract, eggs and sourdough starter. Whisk until the liquid is light and fluffy.

On top of the liquid ingredients, add the all purpose flour, baking powder, spices, lemon zest and raisins. Fold together until it forms a thick, wet dough.

Cover the dough with a plastic food cover and place into the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. You can leave the dough in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 180C (350F) and line two baking trays with parchment paper.

Using a cookie scoop, make small balls of dough (approx. 30g), rolling them gently and placing them onto the cookie trays with a bit of room between each one.

A tray of sourdough hot cross cookie dough balls spaced well apart. You can also see a bowl of dough sitting at the top of the photo.

Bake sourdough hot cross cookies for approximately 15 minutes or until they are golden (but not crunchy). They should be soft when you remove them from the oven.

Place on a wire cooling rack to cool where they will crisp up.

Once the cookies are cool, mix the powdered sugar and boiling water together to form a thick icing. Place into a piping bag with a plain nozzle and pipe a cross onto each cookie. Allow the icing to sit for around 15 minutes so that it sets before serving or storing.

A cellophane gift bag filled with sourdough hot cross cookies. The bag has a pink Easter tag attached. There is a ball of string and antique scissors in the foreground of the photo. — These sourdough Easter hot cross cookies make such a lovely gift for family friends. I've used these cookie gift bags I bought on Amazon.

Flavor Variations for Sourdough Easter Themed Cookies

Chocolate Chip Sourdough Hot Cross Cookies - if you're not into raisins, then swapping the raisins for your favorite chocolate chips can be a nice addition. Piping the cross using white chocolate is a lovely touch as well.
Zesty Sourdough Hot Cross Cookies - if you love citrus flavors, increase the lemon zest to 2 lemons and add some orange zest as well! It makes such a fragrantly lovely addition to these cookies.
Plain Sourdough Easter Cookies - if your kids don't like raisins, then these cookies can also be made without any additions. They still taste delicious without the raisins.

How To Store + Freeze

These delicious sourdough hot cross cookies will last up to a week in a glass jar or tin. The icing is actually better if you leave them to sit for 24 hours. It gets nice and hard and won't smudge when you pack them in cellophane bags.

These Easter sourdough cookies freeze really well too. The best way to freeze them is to divide the dough into the balls and then snap freeze them on trays. Once frozen, transfer to a zip loc bag and leave in the freezer for up to 2 months. You can bake the cookie balls from frozen.

You can freeze the baked cookies, but I advise not to ice them until you actually need them as the icing doesn't freeze well in my experience.