Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Molasses 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the egg and molasses, mixing well.
In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and salt.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a greased baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
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.
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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Molasses
- Adds deep sweetness, moisture, and the dark color and flavor typical of molasses cookies.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cookie together as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lift the dough and help the cookies spread and brown.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and tenderness, and helps the dough cream with the sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and, creamed with butter, helps give a tender crumb.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds moisture and structure.
The step that matters
Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Cookies keep baking on the hot sheet after leaving the oven, and molasses browns quickly. Pulling them once the edges are golden keeps them soft in the center rather than dry and hard.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, flour, cinnamon, butter, sugar, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, flour, cinnamon, butter, sugar, egg. 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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