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 ↓
Sugar 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.
Make the dough
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the milk.
Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of milk and add it to the mixture.
Mix in the cream of tartar and nutmeg.
Gradually add flour until the dough is soft but not sticky.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about ¼ inch thick.
Cut into desired shapes and place on a baking sheet.
Bake for 8-10 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Creaming with sugar traps air and gives the cookies tenderness and rich flavour.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and, creamed with butter, helps set their texture and light crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure and binding, helping the dough hold its shape while baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to produce gas that helps the cookies rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with the baking soda to lighten the dough and aid browning.
- Flour
- Provides the main structure that sets the dough once baked.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the dough is soft but not sticky. Too much flour makes the cookies dry and tough, while too little leaves the dough hard to roll and shape. Adding it gradually lets you stop when the texture is right.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, milk, cream, flour):
- Nutmegthe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Capersfits less well
- Jalapenofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, milk, cream, 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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