Name: Brown Sugar Cookies
Ingredients: 3 cups dark brown sugar; 1 cup cold water; 1 cup butter; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon baking soda; Flour (as needed); Nutmeg (to taste); Granulated sugar (for sprinkling)

Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Brown Sugar Cookies

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.

Make the dough

Combine dark brown sugar, cold water, butter, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.
Gradually add flour until a dough forms that can be rolled out.

Shape and bake

Sprinkle the dough with nutmeg and granulated sugar.
Roll out the dough.
Cut into desired shapes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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.

Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Dark brown sugar: Adds sweetness, moisture and a molasses flavour that carries into the cookie.
Butter: Provides fat for tenderness and richness in the baked cookie.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the dough to lift and lighten the cookies as they bake.
Baking soda: Reacts with acidic components in the dough to help rising and browning.
Flour: Forms the dough structure that holds the cookies together as they set.