Name: Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients: 5 cups rolled oats; 1 cup melted butter; 3 cups flour; ½ cup hot water; 1 cup sugar; 2 teaspoons baking powder

Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Oatmeal 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the dough

In a large bowl, combine the rolled oats, melted butter, flour, hot water, sugar, and baking powder. Mix until well combined.
Roll the dough out and cut it into squares.

Bake

Place the squares on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden.

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.

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.

Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Oats + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,939 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Oats + flourtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,169 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Rolled oats: Provide the bulk and chewy, hearty texture of the cookie.
Melted butter: Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor, and helps the dough bind.
Flour: Gives the dough structure so the squares hold their shape.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown at the edges.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the oven, helping the cookies rise and lighten.

“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.