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 ↓
Chocolate 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 the dough
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream brown sugar and butter together.
Add sour milk, melted chocolate, and eggs; mix well.
Stir in baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Gradually add flour until dough is stiff enough to roll.
Shape and bake
Roll out dough and cut into desired shapes.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cookies brown and stay soft.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to add fat, tenderness and richness to the dough.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the cookies rise and stay tender.
- Chocolate
- Supplies the chocolate flavour and some fat, which also deepens the colour.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release gas, helping the cookies rise.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until dough is stiff enough to roll. Too much flour makes cookies dry and tough, while too little leaves dough sticky and hard to cut. Adding flour gradually lets you stop once the dough is firm but still 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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