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Dessert

Ginger Nuts

A sweet biscuit made with flour, butter, brown sugar, ginger, spices, molasses, lemon zest, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Ginger Nuts

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the dough

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a large bowl, rub together the flour, butter, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and black pepper until well combined.

  3. Stir in the molasses and lemon zest.

  4. Add the baking soda and cream of tartar, mixing until a dough forms.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll the dough into small balls and place them on a baking sheet.

  2. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure that holds the dough together as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, tenderising the crumb and carrying flavour.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cookies brown.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses and cream of tartar to lift and spread the cookies.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the dough, reacting with baking soda to help leavening and texture.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda and cream of tartar. Baking soda needs an acid to release gas efficiently. Mixing these leaveners in evenly prevents pockets of bitter soda and uneven rising or browning.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon, clove, pepper, molasses. 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.

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