Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Brown 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).
Make the dough
In a large bowl, cream together the lard and brown sugar.
Beat in the eggs, then add the molasses and sour milk.
In a separate bowl, mix the baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing well.
Add flour until the dough is soft but not sticky.
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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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar and cinnamon 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
- Lard
- Creams with the sugar to give the cookies a tender, short texture and fat richness.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cookies brown as they bake.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness.
- Molasses
- Adds dark color, moisture, and a deep, sweet flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lightens the dough.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tang and tenderness.
The step that matters
Add flour until the dough is soft but not sticky. Too much flour makes cookies dry and tough, while too little leaves dough that is hard to roll and cut. Adding flour gradually lets you reach a soft, workable dough.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, molasses, milk, cinnamon, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, molasses, milk, cinnamon, 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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