Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Sultana Cookies
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix together the dark brown sugar, butter and lard until well combined.
Add the rolled oats, chopped raisins, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix until evenly distributed.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and then add the milk or water. Combine with the dry ingredients.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about ½ inch thick.
Cut the dough into 3-inch rounds using a cookie cutter.
Place the cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.
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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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Oats + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,394 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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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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Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Dark brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cookies stay soft and chewy.
- Butter and lard
- Provides fat that tenderizes the dough and carries flavor.
- Rolled oats
- Add bulk and a chewy texture to the cookies.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough together and add structure as they set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sugar and moisture to help the cookies rise and brown.
- Raisins
- Add pockets of sweetness and moisture throughout the cookies.
The step that matters
Rolling the dough to ½ inch thick. Thickness controls how much the cookies spread and how long they take to bake. Rolling unevenly can leave some cookies underbaked and others dry or overdone.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, oats, cinnamon, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Blueberryfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, oats, cinnamon, egg, milk. 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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