Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.
Beat the eggs until very light, then add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
Stir in the water and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine ½ cup of sifted pastry flour with the baking powder and sift into the wet ingredients.
Beat until light, then gradually add enough flour to form a soft dough.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, knead lightly, and roll out very thin.
Cut and bake
Cut out cookies with a cookie cutter and bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 10 minutes.
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.
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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to add tenderness and richness to the cookie.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and, creamed with butter, helps give a light, tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding, and help the dough hold its shape when rolled and cut.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the main structure of the dough as it is added gradually.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven to lighten the cookies and help them rise.
The step that matters
Adding the flour gradually. Adding flour gradually lets you stop once the dough is soft enough to roll. Too much flour makes cookies dry and tough, because gluten develops as the dough is worked.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillathe original
- Figfits less well
- Lemonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour. 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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