Skip to main content
Dessert

Ginger Wafers

A sweet, crisp wafer flavored with ginger, made from molasses, brown sugar, lard, coffee, baking soda, and ginger.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Ginger Wafers

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 ↓

Ginger Wafers

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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.

  1. In a large bowl, mix together molasses, brown sugar, lard, cold coffee, baking soda, and ginger until stiff.

  2. Roll the dough out thinly.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until crisp.

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.

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.

  1. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  4. Sugar + coffeetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Molasses + coffeetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together640 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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 sweetness, moisture and a deep flavour that helps the wafers brown.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the wafers brown as they bake.
Lard
Provides fat that tenderises the dough and gives a short, crisp texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to lighten the dough and promote browning.
Cold coffee
Adds liquid that moistens the dough and deepens its flavour.
Ginger
Supplies the warm, spicy aroma that defines the wafers.

The step that matters

Roll the dough out thinly. Thin dough dries out quickly in the oven, so it bakes crisp all the way through. Thick dough stays soft in the centre.

Swap the ginger

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, coffee. 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.

You might also like

Ginger CookiesGinger Cookies213 recipesMolasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesGinger CakeGinger Cake93 recipesCoffee Ice CreamCoffee Ice Cream91 recipes