Why it works: Cinnamon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Cinnamon Sugar
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dry the cinnamon in a low oven.
Pound the dried cinnamon with the loaf sugar in a mortar until both are thoroughly pulverized.
Sift the mixture through a sieve.
Store
Store in a well-stoppered bottle for use.
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.
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon and sugar 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
- Cinnamon
- Provides the main aroma and flavor of the sugar.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and dilutes the cinnamon so it blends evenly.
The step that matters
Drying the cinnamon in a low oven. Cinnamon with moisture will clump and resist pulverizing, and heat that is too high can scorch its delicate aromatic oils. Drying it gently lets it grind to a fine, evenly flavored powder.
“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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