The best way to start the weekend

Well, it's Friday! Almost the weekend, which I usually look forward to a fair bit, but this weekend is different. It's special in a way. I am heading out to the Hamilton Farmer's Market tomorrow morning as usual, but this week, my boyfriend Alex is coming with me! I am always telling him tales about my adventures there with people that are now my friends, rifling through piles of healthy, colourful, delicious food, swapping recipes, and generally just living my best life with amazing people. We all meet at Lina's Pastries & Coffee after we are done shopping to indulge in her incredible coffees, home-baked snacks and the friendliest people you will ever meet. It really is my happy place! And this weekend, I am super excited to share it with my man.

But like I said, I am treating this weekend as special, and so I decided this morning to spend my less-busy times at work today baking a batch of homemade-from-scratch sourdough chocolate chip cookies to bring to share with the group tomorrow. You really can add sourdough to nearly anything (well, anything with flour and water anyway), and it adds this great kick of flavour and many health benefits. The recipe that I am using is from Pantry Mama, but instead of chocolate chips, I usually use carob chips (tastes just like chocolate, but less of a hit to your blood sugar levels) and I sometimes change up the balance of the sugars, using more brown sugar to end up with a chewier cookie if that's what I am feeling that day. However you adapt this recipe though, it seems like it always turns out amazing (and they are great for sharing).

Happy weekend everyone! Enjoy the sunshine.

Sourdough Skillet Cookie:

• 350 grams all-purpose flour

• 8 grams baking soda

• 6 grams baking powder

• 6 grams corn starch

• 2 grams salt

• 250 grams chocolate chips

• 100 grams sourdough starter (you could also use discard)

• 180 grams salted butter, melted

• 160 grams brown wugar

• 100 grams white sugar

• 1 egg + egg yolk

• 5 grams vanilla extract

1. Place the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, corn starch, salt and chocolate chips) into a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine and set aside

2. In a separate bowl, combine the sourdough discard, melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg + egg yolk and vanilla extract. Stir together until they resemble runny caramel. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir together to form the cookie dough

3. At this point, you can ferment the dough for up to 24 hours, but this is not necessary. You can skip this if you want to make your sourdough cookie skillet more quickly. If you want to ferment your sourdough skillet cookie dough, cover the bowl and place into the fridge for 12 to 24 hours

4. When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C) and lightly grease a cast iron skillet

5. Press the cookie dough into an even layer in your cast iron skillet (I don't grease my cast iron skillet because I always add a layer of olive oil when I clean my skillets so they are already "pre-greased and seasoned"). If you don't have a cast iron skillet, you can bake this in any oven safe skillet or a pie plate

6. Bake the skillet for around 25 to 30 minutes (I like to remove the sourdough cookie skillet from the oven when the middle is still a bit soft and gooey)

7. Once the cookie skillet is cooked to your liking, remove from the oven to cool a little

8. Serve warm with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream

Ooey, gooey goodness! Sourdough Skillet Cookies are the best way to start the weekend