Name: Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients: ½ cup butter; 1 cup sugar; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted; 1 egg; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 2 tablespoons milk; 2 cups all-purpose flour (more or less)

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl.
Add the salt, cinnamon, and melted chocolate, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg and then add it to the mixture.
Dissolve the baking powder in the milk and stir it into the dough.
Gradually add enough flour to form a soft dough.

Shape and bake

Cut the dough into round cakes and place them on a baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until done.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,655 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon + chocolatetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,808 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

Butter: Adds fat that makes the cookies tender and rich in flavor.
Sugar: Sweetens the dough and helps it brown while baking.
Unsweetened chocolate: Provides the chocolate flavor and deep color of the cookies.
Egg: Binds the dough and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cookies rise and lighten.
All-purpose flour: Forms the main structure of the dough as its proteins set.

“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.