Name: Frosted Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients: ½ cup sugar; ½ cup butter softened; ⅓ cup molasses; 2½ cups sifted all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons ground ginger; ¾ teaspoon baking soda; ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon; ¼ teaspoon salt

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 ↓

Frosted Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl blend together the sugar and butter.
Add molasses then fold in the sifted flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350.
Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
On a lightly-floured board roll out the dough and cut with cookie cutters and place on baking sheet and bake 8 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool thoroughly on a wire rack before decorating with frosting.
To make frosting combine half of the sugar, vanilla, salt and 2 tablespoons of the milk then mix well.
Add remaining sugar and mix again.
Add as much of the remaining milk as you need to reach the desired consistency for spreading.
Spread frosting on cookies then top with chocolate chips.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

672Calories

13 gProtein

13 gFat

125 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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).

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.

Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,928 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sugar and cinnamon 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

Swap the ginger

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

Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits about as well
Clovefits about as well
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, molasses, flour, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.