Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Sour Cream 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until smooth.
Add the caraway, vanilla extract, and eggs; mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda, salt, and sour cream.
Gradually add the sour cream mixture to the sugar mixture, stirring until combined.
Bake and serve
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet, dust the tops with sugar.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.
Allow to cool before serving.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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 + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Creams with the sugar to trap air and add richness and tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and helps them brown lightly at the edges.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Sour cream
- Adds moisture and tang, keeping the cookies soft and tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour cream's acidity to lift and leaven the cookies.
The step that matters
Combining the sour cream mixture. Adding the sour cream mixture gradually and stirring only until combined keeps the dough smooth and prevents overmixing, which would toughen the cookies as gluten develops.
Swap the caraway
The recipe marks caraway as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, vanilla, egg, cream):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Peppermintfits better
- Carawaythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, vanilla, egg, cream. 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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