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Dessert

Ginger Cookies

A simple ginger cookie made with egg, sugar, molasses, baking soda, vinegar, ginger, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Ginger Cookies

Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Ginger Cookies

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, beat the egg and mix in the sugar and molasses.

  2. Add the baking soda, vinegar, and ginger, and stir until combined.

  3. Gradually add flour until the dough is manageable.

Shape and bake

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

  2. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until lightly browned.

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.

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.

  1. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg
Binds the dough and adds structure as the cookies set.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color, and a rich, slightly bitter sweetness.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic vinegar and molasses to produce gas that lightens the cookies.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that activates the baking soda for rising.
Ginger
Supplies the warm, spicy aroma that defines the cookie.

The step that matters

Rolling the dough thin. Thin dough bakes through and crisps evenly. Thick dough stays soft in the center and may brown unevenly before it sets. Flour should be added only until the dough is manageable, since extra flour makes cookies dry and dense.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

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