Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. 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
In a large bowl, mix together the molasses, sugar, butter, buttermilk, and eggs until well combined.
Add the baking soda and ground ginger, mixing thoroughly.
Gradually add flour until the dough is stiff enough to roll out.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) 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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Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Molasses + buttermilktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together526 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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 moisture, dark color, and a rich, slightly bitter sweetness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown as they bake.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the baking soda.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure as they set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk and molasses to lift and lighten the dough.
The step that matters
Adding the flour gradually. Flour develops gluten as it is worked in, so adding it slowly and stopping once the dough is stiff enough to roll keeps the cookies tender rather than tough.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, buttermilk, egg, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, buttermilk, egg, 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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