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Dessert

Ginger Snaps

A sweet, spiced cookie made with molasses, butter, ginger, allspice, flour, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ginger Snaps

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

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the molasses, ginger, and allspice, and mix well.

  3. Gradually add the flour, mixing until a dough forms.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll the dough into small balls and place them on a baking sheet.

  2. Flatten each ball slightly with your hand.

  3. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden.

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. Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Allspice + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,302 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Molasses
Adds moisture, deep sweetness and a dark flavour that suits the spices.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and, creamed with sugar, traps air for a lighter crumb.
Sugar
Sweetens the dough and, creamed with butter, helps give the cookies crisp edges.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the dough together and sets as the cookies bake.
Ground ginger
Provides the warm, spicy flavour that defines ginger snaps.

The step that matters

Flattening the dough balls. Flattening the balls evenly keeps the cookies bake at a consistent rate, so they spread into even rounds instead of uneven, doughy centres.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, ginger, flour, sugar. 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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