Name: Spicy and Savory Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon mace; 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg; 1/8 teaspoon powdered cloves; 1 cup softened butter; 1 cup packed brown sugar; 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar; 1 tablespoon milk; 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 2 eggs, slightly beaten; 1 cup corn flakes; 3 cups quick-cooking raw oatmeal; 1 cup flaked coconut; 2 cups chocolate chips; 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,557 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,400 recipes

Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Creamed with sugar to trap air, giving the cookies a tender, spreadable structure.
Eggs: Bind the dough and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
All-purpose flour: Provides the main structure that sets as the cookies bake.
Brown sugar: Adds moisture, chewiness and caramel flavor to the cookies.
Baking soda: Reacts to lift and spread the dough and help the cookies brown.
Quick-cooking raw oatmeal: Adds chew and body, absorbing moisture from the dough as it bakes.

The step that matters

Adding the dry ingredients and mix-ins. Mixing only until each addition is incorporated keeps the dough tender, since overworking flour develops gluten and makes cookies tough.

Swap the mace

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

Cardamomfits better
Allspicefits better
Gingerfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, butter, sugar, milk. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Coconut	1/2 cup shredded (40g)	283
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Oat	1/2 cup dry (40g)	154
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Mace	not in our table	0

Spicy and Savory Chocolate Chip Cookies