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Dessert

Ginger Snaps

A sweet ginger cookie made with molasses, sugar, flour, lard, and spices, baked into thin shapes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 Snaps

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Rub the sugar and lard together until well combined.

  2. Dissolve the baking soda and ammonia in the molasses and water, then add to the mixture.

  3. Mix in the flour and ground ginger until a dough forms.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll out the dough thinly and cut into shapes with a small cutter.

  2. To achieve a fine grained appearance, cover the cut snaps with a wet towel and press lightly on each one.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.

  4. For Jackson snaps, cut larger pieces and ice them after baking.

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 + 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 + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 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

Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and helps the snaps brown and stay chewy.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the dough together and sets as the snaps bake.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the dough and helps the snaps crisp and brown as they bake.
Lard
Adds fat for tenderness and a short, crisp texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to lighten the dough and help it spread and rise.
Ground ginger
Provides the characteristic warm, spicy aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Rolling the dough thinly. Thin dough bakes through and becomes crisp; thick pieces stay soft in the centre and can be uneven, so an even thin roll matters.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, 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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