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Dessert

Golden Ginger Drops

A ginger drop cookie made with butter, flour, brown sugar, molasses, spices, baking soda, egg, and boiling water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Golden Ginger Drops

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 batter

  1. Cream the butter in a mixing bowl.

  2. Gradually add the brown sugar and mix well.

  3. Stir in the molasses.

  4. In a separate bowl, mix and sift the flour, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.

  5. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and add it to the butter mixture alternately with the flour mixture.

  6. Fold in the lightly beaten egg and mix until well combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into small buttered gem cups.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 15 minutes.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 the sugar to give the drops a tender, rich crumb.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the drops together as they bake.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the drops brown and stay soft.
Molasses
Adds moisture, deep flavour and colour characteristic of ginger drops.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses to produce gas that lifts and lightens the batter.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets in the oven.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda and alternating it with the flour. Baking soda must dissolve fully in the boiling water so it reacts evenly with the molasses. Adding the liquid and dry mixtures alternately keeps the batter smooth and well emulsified, giving an even rise and tender texture.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sugar, cinnamon, molasses, clove, egg. 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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