Name: Snickerdoodles
Ingredients: ¾ cup butter; 2 cups white granulated sugar; 1 cup milk; 3 cups flour; 2 eggs; 2 tsp cream of tartar; 1 tsp baking soda; Sugar; Ground cinnamon

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Snickerdoodles

Ovena quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

Cream the butter and sugar together.
Beat in the eggs.
Combine the flour, cream of tartar, and baking soda.
Alternately mix the flour and milk into the batter to make a dough.

Shape and bake

Drop dough on a greased or lined baking sheet in spoonfuls.
Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
Bake in a quick oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

890Calories

28 gProtein

31 gFat

123 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter: Adds fat and richness, giving the cookies a tender texture.
Eggs: Bind the dough and add structure and richness to the cookies.
Cream of tartar: Acidifies the dough, helping leavening work and keeping the cookies soft and tender.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in the cream of tartar to produce gas that makes the cookies rise.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.
Sugar: Sweetens the dough and helps the cookies brown and develop a crisp edge.

Swap the cinnamon

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

Nutmegfits about as well
Cinnamonthe original
Capersfits less well
Jalapenofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, flour, egg, cream. 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.