Why it works: Flour and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Cinnamon Cakes
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 the dough
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Gradually add the flour and cinnamon, mixing until a dough forms.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into desired shapes.
Place the cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly 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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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.
- Large egg yolks
- Add richness and binding, helping the dough hold together when rolled.
- Unsalted butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and creaming it with sugar traps air for lightness.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and, creamed with butter, helps give them a light texture.
- Ground cinnamon
- Adds warm spiced aroma and flavor to the cookies.
The step that matters
Creaming the butter and sugar. Beating softened butter with sugar until light and fluffy traps air in the fat, which affects the cookies' lightness and spread. Under-creaming leaves a denser cookie, while over-warm butter can make the dough greasy and cause excess spreading.
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, butter, sugar):
- Cinnamonthe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Jalapenofits less well
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, butter, sugar. 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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