Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
White Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter or lard.
Add the sour cream, baking soda, salt, and baking powder, mixing well.
Gradually add flour until the mixture is soft.
Flavor the dough with nutmeg.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Sprinkle granulated sugar over the top before baking.
Bake until lightly 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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and, creamed with fat, helps give a tender crumb.
- Butter or lard
- Fat that creams with the sugar, adding tenderness and richness to the dough.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and acidity, giving a soft, tender texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour cream's acidity to produce gas, helping the cookies rise and brown.
- Baking powder
- Provides additional lift for a light, soft texture as the cookies bake.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cookies as they bake.
The step that matters
Bake until lightly golden. Cookies with this soft dough dry out and over-brown quickly in a hot oven, so pull them once the edges just turn golden to keep them soft in the centre.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, cream, flour):
- Nutmegthe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, cream, 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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