Smorster

Ammonia Cookies (1919)

B. Dylan Hollis · 1m 00s · Watch on YouTube · 12 sources

Decision Card

Effort: Single-evening bake — order baker’s ammonia (~$5–8, e.g. LorAnn Baker’s Ammonia on Amazon), then ~15 min mixing plus 20 min at 300°F using six pantry ingredients.

Honest take: The video says “heat activates and destroys the ammonia so there’s none left after baking,” but sources on baker’s ammonia are more conditional than that — the ammonia gas must escape, which only works reliably in thin, dry, low-moisture bakes; a thick or moist version of this cookie could retain a detectable ammonia taste, a caveat the 60-second format skips entirely. The video also gives no yield, no dough-chilling time, and doesn’t say whether 300° is Fahrenheit (it is, by context of a 20-minute bake).

Concrete next steps:

  • Order baker’s ammonia (ammonium carbonate/hartshorn) — 5 min; LorAnn 2.7oz or Niblack Foods — do not substitute household cleaning ammonia, which is not food-grade.
  • Read the leavening background at Heritage Cookies’ overview of hartshorn vs. baking soda vs. baking powder to understand why it only suits thin/crisp bakes — 10 min.
  • Bake a half batch in a well-ventilated kitchen: ½ lb butter, 1⅓ cup sugar, 1 tsp almond extract, 1 tsp baker’s ammonia, 2 cups flour, 1 cup coconut; 300°F for 20 min — ~45 min total.
  • Skip if you won’t order a specialty leavener or can’t tolerate a strong ammonia smell during mixing — the crumb effect is real but a standard crisp sugar-cookie recipe gets you 80% of the way with zero odor.

TL;DR

B. Dylan Hollis bakes a 1919 recipe leavened with ammonium carbonate (“baker’s ammonia”), the same compound used in smelling salts, which he withheld from upload since 2021 for fear viewers would think it dangerous. The dough smells terrible and is inedible raw, but the ammonia decomposes and escapes during a 300°F/20-minute bake, yielding an unusually light cookie he describes as “somehow soft and crispy like a cloud of honeycomb.”

Key Points

  • The footage was recorded in 2021 but shelved because Hollis feared viewers would assume the star ingredient was dangerous; he asserts it isn’t, just unusual. 00:01
  • The recipe dates to 1919, from the era when ammonium carbonate was still a common household leavener. 00:10
  • Ammonium carbonate doubles as smelling salts — held under the nose it can revive the unconscious. 00:12
  • It’s called “baker’s ammonia” because it also leavens cookies. 00:16
  • Ingredients: half a pound of butter, 1⅓ cups sugar, a teaspoon of almond extract, and a teaspoon of ammonia (baker’s ammonia). 00:20
  • The raw mixture’s smell is immediately overpowering — Hollis reacts on camera the moment the ammonia goes in. 00:25
  • Two cups of flour and a cup of coconut finish the dough, which is formed into a disc. 00:32
  • Safety claim: heat activates and destroys the ammonia so none remains after baking, but the raw dough is inedible and “smells like death.” 00:37
  • Bake at 300° for 20 minutes. 00:43
  • Verdict: a texture unlike any cookie he’s had — simultaneously soft and crispy, “like a cloud of honeycomb.” 00:53

Notable Quotes

“I didn’t do so because I feared many would think the star ingredient was dangerous it isn’t it’s just unusual” — 00:03

“didn’t know I was going to be baking with chemical weapons today” — 00:33

“I have never had a cookie like this in my life somehow soft and crispy like a cloud of honeycomb” — 00:53

Verified Claims

  1. Claim: Ammonium carbonate placed under the nose can revive the unconscious (smelling salts). 00:12 Sources: Wikipedia — Smelling salts, Chemistry World — Ammonium carbonate podcast Verdict: Confirmed — ammonium carbonate is the usual active compound in smelling salts; released ammonia irritates nasal passages and triggers a reflexive gasp.

  2. Claim: Ammonium carbonate is called baker’s ammonia and helps cookies rise. 00:16 Sources: America’s Test Kitchen — What is Baker’s Ammonia?, BAKERpedia — Baker’s Ammonia Verdict: Confirmed — it decomposes into ammonia gas, CO₂, and water; the expanding gases leaven the dough and leave a distinctively light, crisp crumb.

  3. Claim: Heat destroys the ammonia so none is left after baking, making the cookies safe. 00:37 Sources: Wikipedia — Ammonium carbonate, BAKERpedia — Baker’s Ammonia Verdict: Confirmed with a caveat — it fully decomposes to gases above ~58°C (136°F), well under any baking temperature, and is an approved food additive (E503(i)); but sources note the ammonia only fully dissipates from thin, low-moisture bakes — thick or moist goods can retain an ammonia odor, a nuance the video omits.

  4. Claim: Baker’s ammonia is a historical leavener typical of a 1919-era recipe. 00:10 Sources: Heritage Cookies — Overview of chemical leavening agents, Tasting Table — Whatever happened to baker’s ammonia? Verdict: Confirmed — hartshorn/baker’s ammonia dominated home baking in the early-to-mid 1800s and lingered in recipes after baking soda and baking powder overtook it by the late 1800s, so a 1919 recipe calling for it is period-accurate.

  5. Claim: The raw dough can’t be eaten before baking. 00:42 Sources: America’s Test Kitchen — What is Baker’s Ammonia?, CAMEO Chemicals (NOAA) — Ammonium carbonate Verdict: Confirmed — undecomposed ammonium carbonate remains in raw dough with its noxious ammonia odor; only heat converts it entirely to gases.

  6. Claim: This video was originally recorded in 2021 and is Hollis’s long-withheld “forbidden recipe.” 00:01 Sources: B. Dylan Hollis on TikTok — Vintage Ammonia Cookies Recipe from 1919 Verdict: Confirmed — his own TikTok posting of the same recipe frames it as “the forbidden recipe” with a warning to bake in a well-ventilated area; the 2021 recording date itself rests on his statement alone.

Tools, Papers & Standards Mentioned

Follow-up Questions

  1. What is the measurable texture difference (crumb density, moisture loss) between the same cookie recipe leavened with baker’s ammonia versus baking soda or baking powder — and at what dough thickness does residual ammonia flavor become detectable?
  2. Which 1919 published cookbook is the source recipe from, and how common were ammonia-leavened cookie recipes in American cookbooks of that decade versus European ones (springerle, Scandinavian crisps) where the tradition persisted?
  3. Ammonium bicarbonate is the form more commonly sold today than true ammonium carbonate — do the two behave differently in this recipe (gas volume, odor during mixing, bake temperature)?

Sources