Name: Oatmeal Pan Squares
Ingredients: 1 cup flour; 1 tbsp soda; ½ tbsp salt; ½ tbsp cinnamon; 1 cup margarine, softened; ¾ cup sugar; ¾ cup brown sugar; 2 eggs; 1 tbsp vanilla; 3 cups rolled oats; 6 oz pkg. chocolate chips; 6 oz pkg. butterscotch chips

Why it works: Cinnamon and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. 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 + vanillatop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,287 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Vanilla + oatstop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,532 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,020 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Cinnamon + oatstop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,394 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they 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

Flour: Provides the structure that holds the bars together as they bake.
Margarine: Adds fat for tenderness and helps the bars brown and stay moist.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and, with the fat, helps create a tender, lightly browned texture.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure as they set in the oven.
Baking soda: Reacts with the batter to lift it and help it rise as it bakes.
Rolled oats: Add chewy texture and body to the bars.

The step that matters

Beat until light. Beating the margarine, sugars, eggs and vanilla together traps air in the fat and creams the sugar into it, giving the bars a lighter, more even crumb once baked.

“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
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Oat	1/2 cup dry (40g)	154
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Oatmeal Pan Squares