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 ↓
Soft 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.
Prepare the dough
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the buttermilk or sweet milk and mix well.
Incorporate the eggs (or yolks) into the mixture.
Gradually add the flour and baking soda or baking powder, mixing until combined.
Shape and bake
Roll the dough without kneading and shape as desired.
Bake until lightly golden.
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.
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Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to add fat and tenderness to the cookie crumb.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, binding the dough together.
- Buttermilk or sweet milk
- Adds moisture and liquid so the flour can hydrate into dough.
- Baking soda or baking powder
- Produces gas that lifts the cookies and gives them a softer rise.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps it brown lightly in the oven.
The step that matters
Roll the dough without kneading. Kneading develops gluten in the flour, which makes cookies tough rather than soft. Handling the dough gently keeps the texture tender.
“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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