Name: Cranberry-Apple Crumble Pie
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces; 2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening (trans-fat-free); Rounded 1/4 teaspoon salt; 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water; 3/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar; 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/8 teaspoon salt; 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces; 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped; 2 pounds Gala apples (about 5), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced; 8 ounces fresh or frozen (not thawed) cranberries; 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar; 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice; 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces; Equipment: a 9 1/2-inch glass deep-dish pie plate (6-cup capacity)

Why it works: Cinnamon and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

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.

Cinnamon + appletop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cinnamon + pecanstop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,047 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Swap the pecans

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

Almondfits better
Chestnutfits better
Pistachiofits better
Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon, apple, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Pecan	1 half (4g)	20
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Pie	not in our table	0

Cranberry-Apple Crumble Pie