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Dessert

Fig Snaps

A sweet biscuit made with figs, sugar, butter, molasses, flour, and a pinch of ammonia, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 614 recipes. Both carry cinnamyl acetate, which smells sweet aromatic, cinnamon. The science ↓

Fig Snaps

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Stew the figs and chop them finely.

  2. In a bowl, rub together the sugar and butter.

  3. Add the ammonia, then the eggs, followed by the molasses and figs.

  4. Mix in the flour until well combined.

  5. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about ¼ inch thick.

Shape and bake

  1. Cut with a 2½-inch round cutter.

  2. Wash the tops with egg wash.

  3. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) 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.

  1. Fig + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together614 recipes

    Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).

  2. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Butter
Rubbed into the sugar, it adds richness and a tender crumb.
Eggs
Bind the dough and add structure and moisture to the snaps.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and a deeper flavour to the dough.
Figs
Provide fruity sweetness and moisture once stewed and chopped.
Flour
Forms the structure that holds the dough together when baked.
Ammonia
Acts as a leavening agent, helping the snaps rise and turn crisp.

The step that matters

Rolling the dough to an even thickness. Dough rolled to a consistent ¼ inch bakes at an even rate, so thin spots do not burn while thick spots stay soft.

Swap the fig

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

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figthe original
  4. Blueberryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, molasses, 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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