For these I decided on Laurie's second recipe, which includes oatmeal. I used my unbleached white flour starter, and used mixed flour (half white, half whole wheat) for the cookies. I did not include raisins since my family doesn't like them cooked in things (although we'll eat them out of hand without problem). I did include some milk chocolate chips, but only about 1/2 a cup. I used organic cane crystals as my sugar choice.
These cookies take some planning, and due to lack of that, I only let the sponge ferment for six hours instead of the stated "eight or more". They turned out just fine, IMO, although they may not offer all the benefits of full-fermentation.
I used silicone mats in my pans and made two trays full. To fill one, I used my small cookie scoop (approx. 1/8 cup) and on the second I used my medium scoop (about 1/4 cup). They are baked up well, but because the cookies are soft and the medium ones spread to about four inches in diameter, they tended to break and crumble when picked up. So, I recommend using the smaller scoop.
I baked these after supper last night, and thought at first that I didn't like them. But I was very full from our meal, so I decided (in the name of sourdough science of course) to try another one this morning with my morning coffee. The cookies are soft and moist, which is the way I prefer mine. They did stick together, though, which resulted in the less-than-beautiful picture you see here:
My final and official opinion is that the cookies are very good! Kat agrees. No opinion from Shane; I don't think he has tried them yet.
This recipe was just what I needed to quell my doubts about using sourdough starters. With this success, I'm more hopeful about trying other sourdough recipes. I'll post them when I do.
