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English Rolled Wafers I

A sweet wafer made with molasses, butter, flour, sugar, and ginger, baked and rolled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 5 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 ↓

English Rolled Wafers I

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Heat molasses to boiling point.

  2. Add butter.

  3. Stir slowly and constantly.

  4. Mix in flour sifted with ginger and sugar.

Bake and shape

  1. Drop small portions from the tip of a spoon onto a buttered inverted dripping pan, spacing them two inches apart.

  2. Bake in a slow oven.

  3. Cool slightly.

  4. Remove from pan.

  5. Roll over the handle of a wooden spoon.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

666Calories
13 gProtein
13 gFat
123 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Fannie Merritt Farmer. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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, rich flavor and sweetness, and helps the wafers stay thin and crisp.
Butter
Adds fat, giving the wafers a tender texture and richer flavor.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the wafers together as they bake.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the wafers brown and spread while baking.
Ginger
Adds warm, spicy aroma that complements the molasses.

The step that matters

Bake in a slow oven. Low, gentle heat lets the batter spread thin and dry out evenly. Too hot an oven browns and burns the sugar-rich edges before the centers set, making the wafers brittle or bitter.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Jalapenofits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, flour, 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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