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 ↓
Soft Molasses 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.
Prepare the dough
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, molasses, eggs, and shortening until well combined.
Dissolve the baking soda in the cold water and add it to the mixture.
Stir in the ground ginger and salt until the dough is very soft.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven until set.
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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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Beef + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,410 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sugar + gingertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together14,054 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and ginger barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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 deep sweetness, dark color and a moist, chewy texture to the cookies.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure as the cookies set in the oven.
- Shortening
- Provides fat for tenderness and a soft crumb in the finished cookies.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses acidity to lift the cookies and help them spread and brown.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps give the cookies browning and a crisp edge.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in the cold water. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it is evenly distributed through the dough; clumps can leave bitter spots and uneven rising. Molasses is acidic, so the soda needs to be evenly mixed to react properly.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, egg, beef):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Gingerthe original
- Allspicefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, egg, beef. 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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