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Fruity Spice Bars

A baked bar made with flour, spices, oats, margarine, eggs, dried fruit, raisins, and brown sugar.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Fruity Spice Bars

8 bars
Oven350°F
Time30 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. In a small mixing bowl, sift flour, apple pie spice, baking soda, and baking powder together.

  3. Add oats, stirring to combine; set aside.

  4. Spray an 8 x 8 x 2 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the batter

  1. In a medium mixing bowl, cream together brown sugar and margarine until thoroughly combined.

  2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth.

  3. Gradually beat in sifted ingredients.

  4. Fold in dried fruit and raisins.

  5. Pour batter into baking dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake for 30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out dry.

  2. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

  3. Dust top with confectioners sugar.

  4. Cut into 8 equally sized bars.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

995Calories
26 gProtein
21 gFat
176 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Oat1/2 cup dry (40g)154
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Pienot in our table0
Fruitnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Apple + oatstop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together518 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the main structure that holds the bars together as they set.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help it set firm while adding richness and moisture.
Margarine
Adds fat for a tender crumb and carries flavor through the bars.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and promotes browning and a chewy texture.
Baking soda
Reacts with acidic components to produce gas that lifts the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking to help the bars rise and stay light.

The step that matters

Gradually beat in sifted ingredients. Adding dry ingredients slowly and mixing only until combined prevents overmixing, which develops gluten and can make the bars tough and dense.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, oats, egg, raisin, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Datesfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, oats, egg, raisin, 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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