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Dessert

Cinnamon Cookies

Cookies made with molasses, cinnamon, and spices, baked until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 ↓

Cinnamon 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

  1. Cream the shortening and sugar together.

  2. Slowly add the egg yolk or white and molasses.

  3. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, salt, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and baking soda.

  4. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.

  5. Mix well.

  6. Stir in the vinegar.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll out the dough a little at a time.

  2. Cut into shapes.

  3. Grease the baking pan.

  4. Place the cookies on the wrong side of the pan.

  5. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until browned.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Shortening
Creams with sugar to give the cookies tenderness and a soft crumb.
Molasses
Adds moisture, sweetness, and a deep flavor typical of spice cookies.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the vinegar and molasses to lift and lighten the dough.
Vinegar
Acidifies the dough so the baking soda reacts and helps the cookies rise.
Egg yolk or egg white
Binds the dough and adds richness and structure.

The step that matters

Stir in the vinegar. The vinegar must be mixed in so it reacts with the baking soda. Too little mixing leaves pockets of unreacted soda, which can cause uneven rising and a bitter taste.

“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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