Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Date Muffins
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Remove the seeds from the dates and chop them finely.
In a bowl, cream the butter and chopped dates together.
Add the beaten egg and milk to the mixture and stir well.
In another bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt.
Make and bake the muffins
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
Pour the batter into well-greased muffin tins.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
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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Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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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 + wheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Dates + wheattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together69 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the muffins together as they bake.
- Whole wheat flour
- Adds a heartier texture and nutty flavour while contributing to the muffin's structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the muffins to rise and become light.
- Egg
- Adds structure and richness, helping bind the batter as it sets in the oven.
- Dates
- Add natural sweetness and moisture to the muffins.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
The step that matters
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to develop. Overmixing makes the batter tough and the muffins dense, so stop as soon as no dry streaks remain.
Swap the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, milk, flour, wheat):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, milk, flour, wheat. 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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