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Dessert

Ginger Cookies

A sweet cookie made with molasses, ginger, and lard, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Ginger Cookies

Why it works: Ginger and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,324 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the molasses, lard, water, ginger, and baking soda until well combined.

  2. Knead the mixture until it becomes soft and pliable.

  3. In another bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.

  4. Add the egg and sour milk to the sugar mixture, then stir in the baking soda and nutmeg.

  5. Gradually add flour until a dough forms.

  6. Combine both mixtures and mix until well incorporated.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll out the dough.

  2. Cut into desired shapes.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until 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.

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.

  1. Ginger + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. 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

Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture and a deep, sweet flavor to the dough.
Lard
Adds fat for a tender, short texture in the dough.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, contributing flavor and tenderness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown during baking.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds structure and richness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas for lift and spread.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda to the sour milk and molasses. Baking soda needs an acid to react and release carbon dioxide. Mixing it properly into the acidic ingredients gives even lift; too much or unevenly mixed soda can leave a bitter, soapy taste or patchy rise.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, egg, milk, nutmeg, 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.

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