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Dessert

Crispy Gingerbread Cookies

A gingerbread cookie made with brown sugar, molasses, spices, butter, egg, and flour, baked until crisp.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

Crispy Gingerbread Cookies

Serves 2
Oven325 °F (170 °C)
Timeabout 15 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Pour sugar, molasses, spices, and salt into a large saucepan.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Remove the saucepan from heat.

  4. Add the baking soda and butter and stir until the butter melts.

  5. Quickly stir in the egg.

  6. Add the flour and mix well.

  7. Chill for several hours until firm enough to roll.

Shape and bake

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 °F (170 °C).

  2. Roll the dough out until thin on a lightly‑floured surface.

  3. Cut the dough with cookie cutters.

  4. Place the cut cookies on a cookie sheet sprayed with non‑stick cooking spray.

  5. Bake for about 15 minutes at 325 °F (170 °C).

  6. Cool the cookies on racks.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

750Calories
20 gProtein
18 gFat
126 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 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 Wikibooks Cookbook.

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. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. 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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor in the cookies.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds structure and moisture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses and sugar to lift the cookies and help them brown.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and deep sweetness with a slight acidity.
Light brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture, and soft texture to the dough.

The step that matters

Chill the dough until firm. Warm dough is soft and sticky, so it spreads in the oven and is hard to roll. Chilling firms the butter so the cut shapes hold their edges and the cookies keep their form while baking.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Allspicefits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, cinnamon, butter, egg, 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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