Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Sugar 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
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the milk and egg, mixing well.
Stir in the baking soda and enough flour to form a stiff batter.
Shape and bake
Roll the dough out very thin on a floured surface.
Use a creased rolling pin to create patterns and sprinkle with sugar.
Cut into desired shapes and place on a baking sheet.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until lightly 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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Butter
- Creams with sugar to trap air and give the cookies a tender, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and, creamed with butter, helps create a light structure and gives browning.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds structure and richness as it sets in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the dough to leaven it, helping the cookies rise and brown.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the cookies as they bake.
The step that matters
Roll the dough out very thin. Thin dough bakes quickly and evenly, so it crisps and turns golden before it dries out or becomes thick and cakey in the center.
“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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