Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Crisp 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.
Make the dough
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the beaten eggs and mix well.
Stir in the baking soda, cream of tartar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and milk.
Gradually add flour until a very stiff dough forms.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to form a structure that gives the cookies their fat-based texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and, creamed with butter, helps trap air for a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure as they set during baking.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to release gas, helping the cookies rise and spread.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides acidity that activates the baking soda and contributes to a lighter texture.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network and bulk that gives the dough its structure.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until a very stiff dough forms. Adding flour gradually lets you judge the dough's stiffness. Too much flour makes the cookies dry and dense, while too little leaves the dough too soft to roll and cut cleanly.
“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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