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 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 bowl, mix the butter, sugar, and molasses until well combined.
Dissolve the baking soda in hot water and add it to the mixture.
Stir in the ginger and cinnamon.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake 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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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,928 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).
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
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps the cookies brown at the edges.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture, deep color, and an acidic reaction with the baking soda.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas, giving the cookies lift and spread.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda fully before adding it. Baking soda reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas for lift. Dissolving it in hot water first spreads that reaction evenly through the dough, so the cookies rise uniformly and avoid soapy, patchy spots.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, molasses, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, cinnamon. 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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