Why it works: Cocoa powder and chocolate match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,587 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 30Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Whisk the all-purpose flour, bread flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda together in a bowl.
Beat the room-temperature butter with the white sugar and light brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and the melted, slightly cooled dark chocolate chips.
Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed until just combined. Fold in the crushed Oreos, mini marshmallows, halved milk chocolate buttons and sprinkles.
Cover the dough and chill for at least 6 hours, until firm.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Scoop rounded tablespoons of chilled dough onto the sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 9 minutes, until the edges are set and the centers look soft. Cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then move to a rack.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Cocoa powder + chocolatetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,587 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).
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Bread + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,145 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11,363 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together22,584 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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