Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Oatmeal 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix the lard, oatmeal, sugar, salt, water, and baking soda until well combined.
Add enough flour to form a dough that can be rolled out thin.
Shape and bake
Roll the dough out and cut into shapes like ginger snaps.
Place on a baking sheet and bake until 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.
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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lard
- Provides fat that keeps the cookies tender and adds richness.
- Oatmeal
- Gives the cookies their body, chewy texture and grainy structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and helps them brown as they bake.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to lift the dough slightly and encourages browning.
- Flour
- Adds structure so the dough can be rolled out and cut cleanly.
The step that matters
Rolling the dough thin. Enough flour must be added so the dough holds its shape, but too much makes cookies dry and tough. Rolling it evenly thin lets the cookies bake through and turn golden at the same rate.
“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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