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Dessert

Corn-meal Cookies

A sweet cookie made with cornmeal, flour, sugar, and shortening.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Corn-meal Cookies

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

  1. Cream together the sugar, shortening, and syrup.

  2. Add the well-beaten egg and vanilla extract.

  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

  4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing well.

  5. Add just enough milk to form a stiff dough that doesn't stick.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll the dough very thin, cut into desired shapes.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 10 to 12 minutes or until delicately browned.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Shortening
Provides fat that tenderises the cookies and gives a crisp, short texture.
All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure once its proteins hydrate and set during baking.
Fine cornmeal
Adds a grainy texture and corn flavour while absorbing some moisture from the dough.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking to lift the cookies and lighten their texture.
Syrup
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cookies brown and stay tender.
Sugar
Sweetens the dough and helps it brown during baking.

The step that matters

Roll the dough very thin. Thin dough bakes quickly and evenly, so the cookies crisp and brown before drying out. Thicker pieces stay soft in the centre and may over-brown at the edges.

Swap the vanilla

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

  1. Vanillathe original
  2. Raisinfits about as well
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Blueberryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, sugar, egg, milk, 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.

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