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Dessert

Ginger Snaps

A ginger-flavored cookie made with molasses, flour, and Crisco, baked until crisp.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,116 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Ginger Snaps

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Soften the Crisco in a warm place.

  2. Stir the baking soda into the molasses until foamy, then add it to the softened Crisco.

  3. Mix well, then add the beaten egg, ginger, and salt.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll out the dough thinly and cut into shapes.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for 30 minutes.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Egg + gingertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,337 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses to foam and lighten the dough, helping the cookies rise and spread.
New orleans molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and the dark color and deep flavor typical of ginger snaps.
Crisco
Provides fat that tenderizes the dough and gives a crisp texture after baking.
Graham flour
Adds a coarse, nutty texture and body to the dough as the main flour.
All-purpose flour
Supplies gluten-forming protein that gives the cookies structure alongside the graham flour.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds richness and structure as it sets in the oven.

The step that matters

Stir the baking soda into the molasses until foamy. Baking soda reacts with the acidic molasses to release carbon dioxide. Dissolving it fully and mixing until foamy gives an even lift, while adding it unevenly can leave bitter or soapy patches.

Swap the ginger

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, molasses, egg. 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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