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Dessert

Ginger Snaps, No. 3

A sweet ginger cookie made with molasses, butter, sugar, baking soda, ginger, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Ginger Snaps, No. 3

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the dough

  1. In a saucepan, combine molasses, butter, and sugar.

  2. Heat on the stove until it comes to a boil, then remove from heat immediately.

  3. Stir in baking soda and ground ginger.

  4. Add enough flour to form a dough that can be rolled thin.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll out the dough and cut into shapes.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until lightly browned.

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.

  1. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,564 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 deep sweetness, moisture, and the dark color and flavor of the cookie.
Butter
Provides fat that gives the snaps a tender, crisp texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the dough and helps it brown and crisp as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to lighten the dough and help it spread and darken.
Ground ginger
Supplies the spicy aroma that defines the cookie.
Flour
Builds the structure so the dough can be rolled thin and hold its cut shapes.

The step that matters

Remove the mixture from heat as soon as it boils. Molasses and sugar darken and harden quickly when overheated. Boiling too long can make the snaps bitter and brittle, so timing matters here.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Jalapenofits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, sugar, 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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