Name: Pepper Nuts
Ingredients: 2 cups powdered sugar; 1 cup hickory nuts, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon salt; as much flour as needed; 4 eggs; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon ground cloves; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; ½ lb citron, chopped

Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pepper Nuts

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the dough

Beat the eggs well, then add the powdered sugar and beat again.
Chop the citron into small bits and add it to the egg mixture along with the hickory nuts and spices.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt, then gradually add to the mixture.
Roll the dough into small balls and place them an inch apart on a baking sheet.

Bake

Bake in the preheated oven 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.

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.

Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Nuts + cinnamontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together487 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Nuts + flourtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,180 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Eggs: Beaten eggs bind the dough and give the cookies structure as they set.
Powdered sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the dough beat into a smooth, light base.
Baking soda: Reacts with the dough to help the cookies rise and spread slightly.
Hickory nuts: Add crunch and a rich, nutty flavor to the dough.
Citron: Adds candied fruit flavor and chewy pieces throughout the dough.

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg, clove, cinnamon):

Almondfits better
Chestnutfits better
Chickpeafits better
Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg, clove, 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.