Name: Hard Gingerbread
Ingredients: flour; ginger; sugar; molasses

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Hard Gingerbread

Ingredients

flour
ginger
sugar
molasses

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.

Prepare the dough

Mix the ingredients to form a dough that is hard enough to roll out like biscuit dough.
Roll the dough to a thickness of about ½ inch and cut out small biscuit shapes.
Alternatively, bake the dough in a sheet or on a biscuit tin.
Cut slits about ¼ inch deep across the top of the dough from side to side.

Bake and finish

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
While hot, rub the top with molasses and let it dry.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Provides the structure that lets the dough hold its shape when rolled and cut.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, colour and a glossy finish when rubbed on the hot top.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
Ginger: Adds the characteristic spicy aroma of the gingerbread.