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 ↓
Ginger 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.
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix sugar, molasses, butter, and egg until well combined.
Add ginger, vinegar, and dissolved baking soda in milk or water; mix well.
Gradually add flour until the dough is very thin.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Molasses
- Adds dark color, moisture and a rich, slightly bitter sweetness.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor in the dough.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the vinegar and rises the cookies while helping them spread and brown.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
- Ground ginger
- Provides the main spicy, warm aroma and flavor of the cookies.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the dough is very thin. Flour is added a little at a time so the dough can be judged by feel; too much flour makes the cookies dense and dry, while the dough must be thin enough to roll and cut cleanly.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, butter, egg, vinegar, milk, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, butter, egg, vinegar, milk, 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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