Name: Peanut Flour Drop Cookies
Ingredients: 2 cups peanut flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1½ cups sifted flour; ½ cup brown corn syrup; 1 teaspoon salt; 3 tablespoons fat; 1 egg

Why it works: Peanut and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 346 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Peanut Flour Drop Cookies

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 and bake the cookies

In a bowl, mix together the peanut flour, baking powder, sifted flour, brown corn syrup, salt, fat, and egg until well combined.
Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly 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.

Peanut + corntop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together346 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Peanut + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,427 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + syruptop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,540 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Peanut flour: Provides the main peanut flavor and body, with little gluten to build structure.
Sifted flour: Supplies gluten and starch that give the cookies structure as they set.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cookies rise and lighten.
Brown corn syrup: Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cookies brown.
Egg: Binds the dough and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Fat: Adds richness and tenderness to the texture.