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 ↓
Ginger Snaps
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 the dough
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter or lard and sugar.
Add the molasses and sour milk, mixing well.
Stir in the baking soda and ground ginger.
Gradually add flour until the dough is easy to roll.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 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).
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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Butter or lard
- Provides fat that creams with sugar to give the cookies tenderness and a short bite.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, dark color, and the rich sweetness characteristic of ginger snaps.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the dough rises and softens.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lightens the cookies.
- Ground ginger
- Supplies the warm, spicy aroma that defines the cookie.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the dough is easy to roll. Too little flour leaves the dough sticky and hard to shape, while too much makes the cookies dense and dry. Adding it gradually lets you stop once the dough reaches a workable texture.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, molasses, sugar, milk, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerthe original
- Jalapenofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, molasses, sugar, milk, 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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