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Cookies, Jumbles, and Snaps

A page from an old cookbook with recipes for cookies, jumbles, ginger snaps, sand tarts and fried doughnut-style cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Ellsworth, M. W. (Milon W.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 106 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cookies, Jumbles, and Snaps

Ingredients

Directions

Mix and shape the cookies

  1. Almond Cookies: Mix a smooth dough from the battel, sugar, flour, baking powder, and eggs, flavored with almond extract, using a little milk.

  2. Almond Cookies: Roll the dough a quarter of an inch thick and cut into any shape.

  3. Almond Cookies: Wash the cut cookies with a little water and sprinkle with chopped almonds.

  4. Almond Cookies: Sift a little fine sugar over the cookies.

  5. Cocoanut Cookies: Mix the sugar, butter, eggs, soda dissolved in milk, and cocoanut with enough flour to roll.

  6. Cocoanut Cookies: Roll out the dough.

  7. Cookies, No. 1 (Flour and Sugar Cookies): Mix the flour, baking powder, eggs, sugar, butter, and milk soft, then roll.

  8. Cookies, No. 1: Flavor with any extract.

  9. Cream Cookies: Mix the sugar, eggs, sour cream, butter, soda, and lemon extract or grated nutmeg with enough flour to make a dough that can be rolled.

  10. Cookies, No. 2: Mix the sugar, lard or butter, sour milk, and soda with just enough flour to roll, and bake quickly.

  11. Cookies, No. 2: Add any flavoring you wish.

  12. Cookies, No. 3: Rub the flour and butter thoroughly together.

  13. Cookies, No. 3: Cream the butter and sugar.

  14. Cookies, No. 3: Beat the eggs separately and add them to the butter and sugar mixture with a little nutmeg or cinnamon.

  15. Cookies, No. 3: Sift in the flour and baking powder and add enough flour to mold and roll out.

  16. Cookies, No. 4: Roll the dough thin.

  17. Cookies, No. 4: Dust over with sugar and roll flown lightly.

  18. Cookies, No. 4: Bake quickly.

  19. Eggless Cookies: Mix the sugar, sweet milk, butter, and soda with enough flour to roll.

  20. Eggless Cookies: Season with vanilla, lemon, or nutmeg.

  21. Ginger Cookies: Stir the sugar, molasses, shortening, beaten eggs, soda dissolved in buttermilk, and ginger with a spoon until stiff enough to mold by hand.

  22. Ginger Cookies: Roll and bake in a quick oven.

  23. Sugar Cookies (Graham-style): Mix the sugar, sour cream, and soda quickly, then roll and bake.

  24. Molasses Cookies: Mix the molasses, lard, butter, soda dissolved in boiling water, ginger, and cinnamon.

  25. Sugar Cookies: Mix soft and roll, after mixing the sugar, butter, milk, eggs, cream of tartar, soda, and caraway seeds.

  26. Hickory-nut Cookies: Mix the sugar, eggs, melted butter, milk, cream of tartar, and soda into a dough.

  27. Hickory-nut Cookies: Stir the chopped nuts into the dough.

  28. Sand Tarts: Rub together the sugar, flour, and butter beaten with eggs.

  29. Sand Tarts: Mix smooth, roll out, and cut into cakes.

  30. Sand Tarts: Place hickory-nut or almond meats over the top.

  31. Sand Tarts: Wet the top with a beaten egg and sprinkle with cinnamon and fine sugar.

  32. Jumbles No. 1: Mix the sugar, butter, sour milk, eggs, and saleratus with enough flour to mix hard.

  33. Jumbles No. 1: Knead and roll out, then sift sugar over the top.

  34. Jumbles No. 2: Mix the butter, sugar, milk, eggs, cream of tartar, and soda.

  35. Ginger Snaps: Mix the sugar, molasses, butter, soda, ginger, and egg.

  36. Ginger Snaps No. 2: Mix hard with the molasses, lard, soda, salt, and ginger.

  37. Ginger Snaps No. 3: Heat the molasses, butter, and sugar on the stove until boiling, then take off immediately.

  38. Ginger Snaps No. 3: Add soda and ginger.

  39. Ginger Snaps No. 3: Roll thin and bake quickly.

Make the doughnuts

  1. Doughnuts: Mix the beaten eggs, sugar, melted lard, sour milk, soda, and salt, and flour to make a soft dough to roll out.

  2. Doughnuts Without Eggs: Scald the milk, and when tepid add the sugar, butter, yeast, and soda.

  3. Doughnuts Without Eggs: Pour this into the center of the flour with enough flour to make a sponge.

  4. Doughnuts Without Eggs: Let it rise all night in a warm place.

  5. Doughnuts Without Eggs: Sprinkle in spice, knead in the rest of the flour, and let it rise again until light.

  6. Doughnuts Without Eggs: Knead again, roll, cut, and let stand five minutes.

  7. Doughnuts, Raised: Make a sponge with the water and yeast and let it rise until very light.

  8. Doughnuts, Raised: Add the lard, sugar, mashed potatoes, eggs, and nutmeg, and let rise again until very light.

  9. Doughnuts, Raised: Roll and cut, or shape bits of dough, and set them in the oven to warm.

  10. Cream Doughnuts: Beat the sour cream, sugar, and eggs together.

  11. Cream Doughnuts: Add soda and a little salt, then enough flour to roll.

  12. Fried Cakes: Mix the sugar, melted lard, melted butter, eggs, milk, soda, and cream of tartar with flour to roll out soft.

  13. Snow Balls, White: Mix the sugar, melted butter, eggs, sweet milk, cream of tartar, soda, nutmeg, and salt to a middling soft dough.

  14. Snow Balls, White: Roll out and cut with a small round cutter.

Fry and finish

  1. Doughnuts: Fry in hot lard.

  2. Doughnuts Without Eggs: Fry in boiling lard.

  3. Doughnuts, Raised: Drop in boiling lard and fry.

  4. Fried Cakes: Fry, then roll in powdered sugar when half cold.

  5. Snow Balls, White: Fry in hot lard.

  6. Snow Balls, White: Roll each hot cake in a bowl of fine white sugar until lightly coated, then lay on a plate.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1506Calories
58 gProtein
55 gFat
198 gCarbs

Counts 17 of 19 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 17 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Meatnot 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.

By Ellsworth, M. W. (Milon W.). 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. Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + milktop 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. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the dough's structure so it can be rolled, cut and holds its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness, and helps the cookies brown and taste rich.
Sugar
Sweetens the dough and helps the cookies brown and crisp at the edges.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add structure and richness to the cookies and doughnuts.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color and a deep, sweet flavor to the ginger and molasses cookies.
Soda
Reacts with acidic sour milk, cream or molasses to lift the dough and help it rise.

The step that matters

Fry in hot lard. Doughnuts must go into hot fat. If the lard is too cool, the dough soaks up grease and turns heavy, while overly hot fat browns the outside before the centre cooks.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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