Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Boil the molasses and spices together.
While hot, add enough flour to create a stiff batter.
When cool, mix in the sugar, eggs, vinegar, and baking soda.
Bake and frost
Bake the cookies and frost them with white or chocolate icing.
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.
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cinnamon and sugar 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
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture, a chewy texture and deep flavor.
- Flour
- Builds the structure that holds the stiff batter together.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown and stay tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the vinegar to release gas, helping the cookies rise and lighten.
- Vinegar
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the cookies rise.
The step that matters
When cool, mix in the sugar, eggs, vinegar, and baking soda.. Let the molasses and flour mixture cool first. Adding eggs to a hot mixture can partly cook them and leave lumps, and the dough must be cool enough to hold the eggs and leavening evenly.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, cinnamon, sugar, egg, vinegar, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Cardamomfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, cinnamon, sugar, egg, vinegar, 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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