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Dessert

True Spice Cookies

Cookies made with olive oil, molasses, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, spices, baked until cracked.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

True Spice Cookies

Oven350 degrees
Time10 to 12 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Whisk together olive oil, molasses, 1 cup sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.

  2. In a separate medium bowl, combine flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, mace, and cloves.

  3. Add to the wet ingredients and stir until well combined.

  4. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Bake and cool

  1. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

  2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

  3. Place the remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl.

  4. Use the palms of your hands to form the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls, then roll them in the sugar.

  5. Place the balls on the baking sheets spaced 2 inches apart; bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the tops of the cookies crack.

  6. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

786Calories
20 gProtein
20 gFat
128 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Cloves1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Pastrynot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Wheat + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together537 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Olive + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,100 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

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

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 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

Olive oil
Adds fat for a moist, tender crumb that stays soft.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add structure as the cookies set in the oven.
Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the cookies together.
Baking soda
Reacts to lift and spread the cookies while they bake.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and depth, and helps the cookies brown.
Sugar
Sweetens the dough and forms a crisp coating on the outside.

The step that matters

Bake until the tops just crack. Pulling the cookies at the first sign of cracking keeps them soft in the middle. Baking longer dries them out and makes them hard once cooled.

Swap the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, molasses, sugar, egg, flour, wheat, cinnamon):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, molasses, sugar, egg, flour, wheat, cinnamon. 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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