Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Sour Cream Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
In a large bowl, combine sugar, lard, sour cream, eggs, baking soda, and baking powder.
Gradually add flour until a soft dough forms that can be handled with minimal kneading.
Bake
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C) and bake the cookies in a well-heated oven.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour 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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps the cookies brown at the edges.
- Lard
- Adds fat that keeps the cookies tender and short in texture.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and acidity that give the cookies a soft, tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure as the cookies set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour cream's acidity to produce gas that helps the cookies rise.
- Baking powder
- Provides additional lift so the cookies rise evenly as they bake.
The step that matters
Handling the dough with minimal kneading. Overworking dough develops gluten, which makes cookies tough and dense. Mixing in the flour just until the dough holds together keeps the texture soft.
“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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