Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Sugar Cookies
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, and butter until smooth.
Dissolve the baking soda in hot water and add it to the mixture.
Add salt and flavoring to taste.
Mix until soft and drop spoonfuls onto a baking sheet.
Bake
Bake in the preheated oven until 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.
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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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown as they bake.
- Butter
- Provides fat for tenderness and flavor, and helps the dough spread.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the dough to help the cookies rise and brown.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in hot water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it distributes evenly through the dough. Clumps can leave bitter spots and uneven rising.
“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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