Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Oatmeal 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, combine the oatmeal, flour, sugar, and baking soda.
Add the boiling water and melted lard to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Roll the dough very thin and cut into desired shapes.
Bake
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until 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.
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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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oatmeal
- Provides bulk and a hearty, chewy texture in the finished cookie.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the dough together as it bakes.
- Lard
- Adds fat for tenderness and a short, crisp texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to lift and spread the cookie and promote browning.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown at the edges.
- Boiling water
- Hydrates the dry ingredients and dissolves sugar into the dough.
The step that matters
Roll the dough very thin. Thin dough bakes through quickly and crisps, while thick dough stays soft and may not set evenly. Rolling to an even thickness also helps the cookies bake at the same rate.
“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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