Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Soda Jumbles
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a large bowl, mix the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
In another bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until smooth.
Make and shape the dough
Combine the wet and dry ingredients, adding cold milk until a stiff dough forms.
Roll the dough into shapes and cut into jumbles.
Roll the jumbles in sugar instead of flour for better flavor.
Bake
Bake immediately in the preheated oven until golden.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together as it bakes.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic ingredient that reacts with baking soda to help the cookies rise.
- Baking soda
- Releases carbon dioxide with the acid, leavening the dough and encouraging browning.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and, when rolled on the outside, adds a crisp, sparkling crust.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor, and helps the dough cream smoothly.
- Cold milk
- Adds moisture so the flour hydrates and the dough comes together.
The step that matters
Bake immediately in the preheated oven. Baking soda and cream of tartar start releasing gas as soon as they are mixed with liquid, so waiting lets the leavening weaken and the jumbles come out flatter and denser.
“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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