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Dessert

Oatmeal and Rye Cookies

A baked cookie made with oats, rye flour, shortening, sugar, and optional raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Oatmeal and Rye Cookies

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, cream the shortening.

  2. Add the brown sugar and corn syrup, then mix in the beaten egg and water.

  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the rye flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

  4. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet mixture and mix well.

  5. Fold in the rolled oats and raisins.

Bake

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a greased baking pan.

  2. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

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.

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. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Oats + ryetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together69 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Cinnamon + oatstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,394 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Corn + ryetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together182 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Shortening
Adds fat that tenderizes the cookies and carries flavor.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cookies brown and stay soft.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Rolled oats
Adds chewy texture and bulk to the dough.
Rye flour
Provides the base structure of the cookies with a distinct earthy flavor.
Royal baking powder
Releases gas that helps the cookies rise and lighten.

The step that matters

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Baking time sets the final texture. Too long dries out the cookies and makes them hard, while too short leaves the centers doughy and unset.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, corn, syrup, cinnamon, egg, oats, rye):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Blueberryfits about as well
  3. Raisinthe original
  4. Figfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, corn, syrup, cinnamon, egg, oats, rye. 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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