Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the dough
Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water.
In a bowl, mix the oatmeal, flour, butter, sugar, and salt.
Add the dissolved baking soda to the mixture and combine well.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour and butter 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
- Oatmeal
- Provides chewy bulk and the characteristic oaty texture of the cookie.
- Flour
- Gives the dough structure so the cookies hold their shape while baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness, and helps the cookies brown.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the dough to help the cookies rise and spread, and aids browning.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown and stay soft.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in boiling water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it distributes evenly through the dough. Undissolved pockets can cause uneven rising and bitter spots in the cookies.
“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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