Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Ginger Snaps
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. 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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make and shape the dough
In a bowl, mix together the sugar, butter, lard, molasses, sour milk, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon.
Gradually add flour until the dough is manageable.
Roll the dough thin on a floured surface and cut with a round cutter.
Bake
Place the cutouts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8-10 minutes.
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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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Adds moisture, sweetness and deep flavour, and helps the cookies stay soft.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to release gas, lifting and loosening the dough.
- Sour milk
- Adds acidity that activates the baking soda and contributes moisture.
- Butter and lard
- Provide fat that tenderises the crumb and carries the spice flavours.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and promotes browning during baking.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the dough is manageable. Flour absorbs liquid and gluten develops as it is worked. Adding too much flour dries and toughens the cookies, so add it slowly and stop once the dough can be rolled.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, molasses, milk, cinnamon, flour):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, molasses, milk, cinnamon, 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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