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Dessert

Molasses Cookies No. 2

Cookies made with molasses, sugar, egg, lard, spices, vinegar, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 No. 2

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a bowl, beat together the molasses, sugar, and egg.

  3. Add the melted lard and salt, mixing well.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in warm water and add it to the mixture.

  5. Stir in the cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.

  6. Add the vinegar and mix until combined.

  7. Gradually add flour until the dough is stiff enough to roll out.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll out the dough thin and cut into shapes.

  2. Bake in the preheated oven until done.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Molasses
Provides the dark color, rich flavor and moisture that give the cookies their character.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown and set as they bake.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds structure to the cookies.
Melted lard
Supplies fat that gives the cookies tenderness and a short texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to lift the dough and help it spread and rise.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that activates the baking soda and sharpens the molasses flavor.

The step that matters

Gradually add flour until the dough is stiff enough to roll out. Flour is added by feel, and too little leaves the dough sticky and hard to shape, while too much makes the cookies dry and tough. Adding it gradually lets you stop once the dough holds together for rolling.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, egg, cinnamon, clove, vinegar, flour):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, egg, cinnamon, clove, 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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