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Dessert

Ginger Snaps

A sweet ginger cookie made with molasses, sugar, cottolene, boiling water, soda, ginger, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Ginger Snaps

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix molasses, sugar, cottolene, boiling water, soda, salt, and ginger together.

  2. Add flour until the dough can be rolled out.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven until done.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

109Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
28 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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 a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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. See the original page.

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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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 dark color, moisture, and a deep sweet flavor to the dough.
Soda
Reacts with the molasses to lift the dough and help the snaps spread and crisp.
Cottolene
Provides fat that tenderizes the dough and gives the snaps their crisp texture.
Ginger
Supplies the spicy aroma and warm flavor that define the cookie.

The step that matters

Adding flour until the dough can be rolled out. Too little flour leaves the dough sticky and hard to shape, while too much makes the snaps dense and tough. Stop once the dough is firm enough to roll.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerthe original
  3. Allspicefits less well
  4. Clovefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar. 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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