Why it works: Orange and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,437 recipes mention both. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Cream butter and sugar in large mixer bowl with electric mixer.
Beat in egg until light.
Stir in corn syrup, orange rind and water.
Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt.
Stir into butter mixture to form a dough.
Divide dough in half.
Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate overnight.
Shape and bake
Heat oven to 325°F.
Have lightly greased baking sheets ready.
Roll out one piece of dough at a time on a lightly floured surface or between sheets of floured wax paper to 1/8-inch thickness.
Cut into shapes with cookie cutters.
Place on baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each cookie.
Bake until golden, 8 to 10 minutes.
Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Ice and store
For icing, mix egg white and almond extract in small bowl until frothy.
Stir in confectioners' sugar until mixture is a drizzling consistency.
Drizzle over cookies.
Let stand until icing sets.
Store covered.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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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Orange + cinnamontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,437 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together30,777 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sugar + syruptop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,841 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Corn + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together647 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Corn + orangetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Butter or margarine
- Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cookies a tender, short texture.
- Granulated sugar
- Creams with butter for lift and adds sweetness and gentle browning.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds structure and richness.
- Dark corn syrup
- Adds moisture, chewiness, and deeper flavor and color to the dough.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure that holds the cut shapes together.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to lift the dough and promote spreading and browning.
The step that matters
Chilling the dough overnight. Cold dough is firm enough to roll thin and cut cleanly, and chilling lets the flour hydrate and the fat set so the shapes hold their edges in the oven.
“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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