Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fruit 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, mix together the sugar, butter, sour milk or cream, and baking soda until smooth.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Fold in the dredged raisins and currants, cinnamon, and cloves.
Roll the dough thin and cut into desired shapes.
Bake
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or 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.
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.
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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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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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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, creaming with sugar to give the cookies a tender texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps it brown during baking.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness to the cookies.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk or cream to lift the dough and promote browning.
- Sour milk or cream
- Adds moisture and acidity, which activates the baking soda.
- Stone raisins
- Add chewy fruit pieces and moisture; dredging in flour keeps them from sinking.
The step that matters
Roll the dough thin and cut into desired shapes. Dough thickness controls how the cookies bake. Rolling it thin keeps them crisp and evenly cooked, while thicker pieces stay soft and may need longer baking.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, egg, raisin, flour, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, egg, raisin, flour, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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