Name: Grandmother's Ginger Cookies
Ingredients: 1 cup hot water; 3 teaspoons baking soda; 1 cup lard, shortening, or bacon fat; 3 cups New Orleans molasses; 3 teaspoons ground ginger; 1 teaspoon salt; pastry flour (enough to make a soft dough)

Why it works: Molasses and ginger are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,116 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Grandmother's Ginger Cookies

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the dough

Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, mix hot water and baking soda until dissolved.
Add lard, molasses, ginger, and salt; stir until combined.
Gradually add pastry flour until a soft dough forms.

Shape and bake

Roll the dough to ¼ inch thick, then cut into desired shapes.
Place on a baking sheet and bake in the hot oven 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.

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.

Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,116 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,564 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Baking soda: Reacts with the molasses and hot water to release gas, lightening the cookies and helping them rise.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture, and its acidity works with the baking soda.
Lard, shortening, or bacon fat: Adds fat for tenderness and a short, crumbly texture.
Pastry flour: Provides the structure that sets the dough and gives the cookies their body.
Ground ginger: Supplies the warm, spicy aroma that defines the cookie.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda in hot water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved before mixing, or pockets of it will leave bitter, soapy spots and uneven rising. Molasses is acidic, so the soda needs to be evenly distributed to react properly.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, flour):

Jalapenofits better
Cinnamonfits better
Allspicefits about as well
Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, 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.

Ginger Cookies213 recipes

Molasses Cookies96 recipes

Ginger Cake93 recipes

Molasses Cake90 recipes

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Grandmother's Ginger Cookies