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 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, egg, shortening, molasses, ginger, vinegar, and baking soda.
Gradually add the hot water and mix until the dough is quite stiff.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into cookies and place them on a baking sheet.
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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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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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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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Ginger + vinegartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,126 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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 moisture, sweetness and dark color, and helps the cookies brown.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid and molasses to lift the dough and help it spread and darken.
- Vinegar
- Acid that reacts with the baking soda, giving extra lift and a softer texture.
- Shortening
- Fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries the ginger flavor.
- Egg
- Binds the ingredients together and adds structure and richness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps the cookies brown at the edges.
The step that matters
Bake until golden brown. Molasses contains sugars that darken and scorch quickly at high heat, so the cookies can go from golden to burnt in a short time. Checking early keeps them soft in the center and evenly colored.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, molasses, vinegar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, molasses, vinegar. 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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