Name: Spiced Apple-Filled Pancakes
Ingredients: 1 Tbs. unsalted butter; 3 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar; 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and grated; 1/8 tsp. ground ginger; 1/8 tsp. ground cloves; 1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg; 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon; Juice of 1/2 lemon; 1 cup heavy cream; 1/4 cup maple syrup; 1/4 tsp. salt; 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour; 3/4 tsp. baking soda; 1 tsp. baking powder; 1 1/2 Tbs. granulated sugar; 1/2 tsp. salt; 3 egg yolks; 1 1/3 cups buttermilk; 1/2 cup sour cream; 5 egg whites; 5 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted; 1 Tbs. confectioners sugar; 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,380 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, ginger, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon):

Orangefits better
Limefits better
Vanillafits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, ginger, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, 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
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Maple Syrup	1 tbsp (20ml)	52
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Cloves	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Spiced Apple-Filled Pancakes