Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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).
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, molasses, shortening, sour milk, egg, vinegar, ginger, and baking soda until well combined.
Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are firm.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown and crisp at the edges.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, deep flavor, and a dark color to the cookies.
- Shortening
- Provides fat that tenderizes the dough and gives a soft texture.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with baking soda so the cookies rise and stay tender.
- Egg
- Adds structure and binds the dough together.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk and vinegar to make the cookies rise.
The step that matters
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are firm. Molasses-rich doughs brown quickly and can over-bake. Pulling them when the edges are firm keeps the centers soft, since they keep setting as they cool on the sheet.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, butter, milk, egg, vinegar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, butter, milk, egg, vinegar. 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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