Name: Baltimore Ginger Snaps
Ingredients: 1 quart molasses; 8 tablespoons ginger; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup milk; ½ pound butter; ½ pound lard; ¾ pound brown sugar; ¼ teaspoon salt; Flour (sufficient to make a dough)

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Baltimore Ginger Snaps

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

Combine molasses, ginger, baking soda, milk, butter, lard, brown sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well until smooth.
Gradually add flour until a dough forms that can be rolled out.

Shape and bake

Roll out the dough and cut into very thin cakes.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until crisp.
The pan does not need to be greased.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Molasses: Adds sweetness, moisture, and a dark color to the dough.
Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses to lighten the dough and help it spread and brown.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the dough together for rolling and cutting.
Butter: Adds fat for flavor and a tender, crisp texture.
Lard: Adds fat that helps the cakes stay tender and crisp.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cakes brown and crisp.

The step that matters

Roll the dough very thin. Thin cakes bake through and dry out into crisp snaps, while thicker pieces stay soft and chewy. Even thickness also ensures they bake evenly without burning at the edges.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, milk, butter, sugar, flour):

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Gingerthe original
Jalapenofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, milk, butter, sugar, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ginger Cookies213 recipes

Molasses Cookies96 recipes

Ginger Cake93 recipes

Molasses Cake90 recipes

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Baltimore Ginger Snaps