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Dessert

Ginger Crullers

A fried dough treat flavored with molasses, ginger, and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ginger Crullers

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, mix molasses, eggs, sweet milk, melted butter, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.

  2. Gradually add flour until the dough is soft but manageable.

  3. Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.

Fry and finish

  1. Fry the crullers in hot oil until golden brown.

  2. Immediately roll in powdered sugar after frying.

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. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the dough and add richness and structure as they set in frying.
New orleans molasses
Adds sweetness, deep flavor, and moisture to the dough.
Baking powder
Releases gas that helps the crullers rise and turn light.
Melted butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a richer mouthfeel.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the dough together when rolled and cut.

The step that matters

Fry the crullers in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is too cool, crullers absorb excess oil and turn greasy; if too hot, the outside browns before the inside cooks. Steady heat gives a crisp, evenly cooked result.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, egg, milk, butter, cinnamon, 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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