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Bread, Cornbread, Muffins

A page of old recipes for muffins, shortbread, breakfast cakes, gingerbread and ginger drops.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 41 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Bread, Cornbread, Muffins

Ingredients

Directions

Make the muffins

  1. Mix 2 well beaten eggs, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 cup sweet milk, 2½ cups flour and 2 teaspoons baking powder.

  2. Bake the muffins.

  3. Bake in gem pans.

Make the shortbread

  1. Rub butter and flour into a soft dough.

  2. Knead in the powdered sugar.

  3. Roll the dough into a sheet ¼ inch thick.

  4. Pinch round the edges.

  5. Bake on buttered paper in a shallow tin until crisp and of a delicate brown.

  6. Beat as long as you have time and strength.

Make the gingerbread

  1. Bake ½ hour in hot oven.

  2. Combine the sugar, molasses, butter, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, saleratus dissolved in boiling water and flour.

  3. Add the 2 well beaten eggs the last thing before baking.

  4. Seeded raisins may be added, making it extra fine.

  5. Dissolve 1 teaspoon soda in 1 cup molasses.

  6. Add 2 tablespoons butter, ½ cup sour milk, 1 teaspoon ginger and 1½ cups flour.

  7. Mix 1 egg, 1 cup molasses, 1 cup sour cream, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 teaspoon ginger and flour to make a batter that will just drop from the spoon.

  8. Good when warm.

  9. Put 1 cup dark brown sugar, 1 cup molasses and 1 cup butter into a bowl.

  10. Pour 1 cup boiling water, in which 2 small teaspoons of soda are dissolved, over the sugar, butter and molasses, and stir thoroughly.

  11. Add 2 teaspoons ginger, ½ teaspoon cloves, the 2 well beaten eggs and 5 cups flour.

  12. Bake in well greased patty pans in a hot oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1061Calories
45 gProtein
27 gFat
160 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
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
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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Raisin + gingertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,242 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness to the muffins and gingerbread.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness, giving the shortbread its crumbly texture.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture to the gingerbread.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream and molasses to lift the gingerbread.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the muffins, shortbread and gingerbread together.

The step that matters

Add the 2 well beaten eggs the last thing before baking. Eggs set when heated and give structure, so adding them late keeps the batter from being overworked and helps it rise and hold its shape in the oven.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Clovefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, flour, butter, molasses, raisin, 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.

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