Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Mother's Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until smooth.
Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Mix in the baking soda until well combined.
Shape and bake
Roll the dough into balls, place on a baking sheet, and flatten slightly.
Sprinkle sugar on top of each cookie.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly 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 + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and adds a crisp, slightly crunchy surface when sprinkled on top.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and tenderness, and helps the dough cream into a smooth base.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure, moisture and richness as they are beaten in.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to lift and spread the dough and encourage browning in the oven.
The step that matters
Beating in the eggs one at a time. Adding each egg separately lets it fully emulsify into the creamed butter and sugar. Dumping them in together can cause the mixture to split, which affects the cookies' texture.
“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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