Name: Ginger Cookies
Ingredients: 1 cup sugar; ½ cup lard or ⅔ cup butter; 1 cup molasses; ½ cup buttermilk; 2 eggs; 1 scant teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 tablespoon ginger; flour to make a stiff batter

Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Ginger 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).

Mix the batter

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and lard (or butter).
Add the molasses, buttermilk, and eggs, mixing well.
Stir in the baking soda, baking powder, and ginger.
Gradually add flour until you achieve a stiff batter.

Bake

Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto a greased baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

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.

Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + buttermilktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together526 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic molasses and buttermilk to lift the cookies and help them spread and brown.
Baking powder: Provides additional lift so the cookies rise and set with a lighter texture.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture, and its acidity reacts with the baking soda.
Lard or butter: Provides fat that tenderizes the cookies and carries flavor.
Flour: Provides the structure that holds the stiff batter together as it bakes.

Swap the ginger

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

Cinnamonfits better
Nutmegfits better
Jalapenofits better
Gingerthe original

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