Name: Molasses Cookies
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 tablespoon boiling water; 4 tablespoons melted lard; molasses (enough to fill the coffee cup); flour (enough to roll the dough)

Why it works: Ginger and molasses 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 ↓

Molasses Cookies

Ingredients

1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon boiling water
4 tablespoons melted lard
molasses (enough to fill the coffee cup)
flour (enough to roll the dough)

Directions

In a coffee cup, combine the ginger and baking soda.
Add the boiling water and stir until mixed.
Pour in the melted lard and fill the cup with molasses.
Stir until the mixture foams.
Gradually add flour until the dough is soft but manageable.

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.

Ginger + molassestop 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).
Molasses + coffeetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together640 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Ginger + coffeetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together269 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).