Name: Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients: 1 cup molasses; 2 cups fine oatmeal; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup boiling water; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 tablespoon ground ginger; White flour (as needed for stiff batter)

Why it works: Molasses and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,116 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

Directions

Dissolve the baking soda in boiling water.
In a bowl, mix molasses, oatmeal, salt, and ginger.
Add the dissolved baking soda and stir well.
Gradually add white flour until the batter is stiff.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a greased baking sheet.

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.

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.

Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).