It has been five years since I have blogged here. I started a separate cooking website (www.lifeloveandlemons.us), but it’s been a year since I blogged there either. I confess that I’m planning to duplicate this post on that site as well and hopefully, I will inspire myself to cook more, read more, write more and spend more time in a less hectic way.

I recently found myself in the not uncommon predicament of having a tonnage of sourdough discard in my refrigerator and no reasonable plan to prevent it from taking over the entire household. Sourdough baking is a gateway drug! I began my sourdough journey wanting to bake the perfect loaf, and before I knew it I was down a rabbit hole of sourdough cookies, sourdough pancakes, sourdough meatballs, sourdough crackers, sourdough everything. The cult of sourdough. No light on the horizon, just a never-ending cycle of feeding sourdough starter and dealing with copious quantities of discard. While I have developed some amazing recipes that I will be sharing here and on Life Love and Lemons in the future, I had to break the cycle of abuse at the whimsy of a demanding blob of fermented flour paste emboldened by wild yeast and bacteria (“Blob”). I am not breaking up with Blob for good, but Blob and I need a temporary separation; he will be sequestered to my pantry in dry storage while I assess his control issues and how to manage our relationship better.

The other part of my break up with Blob is that I have been having an issue with insulin resistance/high blood glucose. This is genetic. My mother, who is 81 and still walks and does yoga for hours each day and has never carried an ounce of extra weight in her life, also has high blood sugar, and both of her parents did as well. I refuse to allow myself to be medicated for something that can be controlled 100% by lifestyle, so I have given up all simple carbohydrates (white flour, potatoes, sugar, etc.) for the time being and I am walking 3-5 miles per day. I am wearing a continuous glucose monitor so that I can track and understand what causes my blood sugar to rise (and fall). The changes are very nice. My blood sugar immediately normalized; I have more energy, and I feel happier, maybe even a little less stressed.

My Sloughis often accompany me on my walks, adding interest and excitement by chasing deer, rabbits, squirrels and the occasional biker. (This has not been beneficial to my elbow and quadriceps injuries.) Needless to say, their adventures leave them hungry and in need of snacks, and they do not have blood sugar issues, so sourdough discard biscuits for Sloughis evolved quite naturally. Toute en profite!

This recipe works equally well with sourdough discard, ripe sourdough starter, or if you are not slave to a Blob of your own, you can use equal parts any flour of your choosing and water.

One word of warning, and I cannot stress this heavily enough, please make sure to use a peanut butter that does not contain xylitol, which is potentially lethal to dogs. I use Kirkland Signature Organic Peanut Butter. Also, if you opt to use sourdough starter, do not eat, and do not feed your dogs raw cookie dough. Sourdough starter is alive with wild active yeast and bacteria and is only safe to eat after thorough cooking.

Peanut Butter Cinnamon Sloughi Biscuits

800g Sourdough Starter (or 400g flour and 400g water)
400g Steel Cut Oats
200g Cornmeal
800g Creamy Organic Peanut Butter (that does not contain xylitol)
80g Honey
15g Cinnamon
6g Salt

Mix all ingredients together well. Roll out onto a floured surface to 1/4″ thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut into shapes of your choosing.
Place cookie shapes onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment.
Bake at 325°F for 30 minutes until crisp. Cool fully before storing. Cookies last about 5-7 days but can be frozen.