Name: Molasses Cookies
Ingredients: 2 cups molasses; 1 cup brown sugar; 1 cup butter; 1 cup buttermilk; 2 egg yolks; 1 tablespoon ginger; 3 teaspoons baking soda; 1 teaspoon cloves; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 2 egg whites (for frosting)

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 deep sweetness, moisture, and the dark color and flavor typical of molasses cookies.
Butter: Provides fat for tenderness and rich flavor in the dough.
Buttermilk: Adds acidity that reacts with baking soda to help the cookies rise and stay soft.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic buttermilk and molasses to produce gas that lifts the cookies.
Egg yolks: Add richness and moisture and help bind the dough.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness, moisture, and caramel-like browning.

The step that matters

Beat egg whites until stiff and spread over cooled cookies. Egg whites must be beaten until stiff so the frosting holds its shape. Spreading it on warm cookies would let it melt and slide off.

Swap the ginger

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

Nutmegfits better
Allspicefits better
Cardamomfits about as well
Gingerthe original

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

Molasses Cookies