Name: Chocolate Crinkles with Raisins
Ingredients: ½ cup butter or margarine, softened; 1⅔ cups sugar; 1 tsp vanilla; 2 oz (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate, melted; 2 cups all-purpose flour; 2 tsp baking powder; ½ tsp salt; ⅓ cup milk; 1 cup Sun-Maid natural raisins; powdered sugar

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 ↓

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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,020 recipes

Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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

Butter or margarine: Creams with sugar to trap air, giving the cookies a tender, rich crumb.
All-purpose flour: Provides the structure that holds the dough together as the cookies bake.
Sugar: Sweetens the dough and, when creamed, helps create a light texture.
Unsweetened chocolate: Adds chocolate flavor and deep color to the dough.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the cookies rise and spread.
Raisins: Add chewy texture and fruity sweetness throughout the cookies.

The step that matters

Bake only until set (do not over bake). Cookies keep baking from residual heat on the sheet. Overbaking dries the crumb and makes them hard instead of soft and chewy.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, vanilla, chocolate, flour, milk):

Coconutfits better
Figfits better
Blueberryfits about as well
Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, vanilla, chocolate, flour, 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
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Chocolate Crinkles with Raisins