Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Good 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
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the soft sugar and shortening.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the sweet milk.
In a separate bowl, combine the baking powder and baking soda.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly 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.
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Soft sugar
- Sweetens the dough and, creamed with shortening, helps give the cookies tenderness and spread.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that tenderises the cookies and carries flavour when creamed with the sugar.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the dough to give the cookies lift as they bake.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidity in the dough to help it rise and promote browning.
The step that matters
Mixing the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Overmixing once flour is added develops gluten and makes cookies tough. Mixing only until just combined keeps them tender. The record lists the dry ingredients without flour, so mix gently and stop as soon as no dry streaks remain.
“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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