Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Sour Cream Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the sour milk, baking soda, salt, vanilla extract, and orange extract until well combined.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Vanilla + orangetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,371 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cookies a light, tender texture.
- Sugar
- Creams with butter for lift and adds sweetness and browning.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness to the cookies.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with baking soda to help the cookies rise and softens the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that makes the cookies rise.
The step that matters
Stir in the sour milk and baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid to react and leaven the dough. Adding it to dough that lacks enough acid, or leaving it to sit, weakens the rise and can leave a bitter, soapy taste.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla. 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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