Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Dissolve yeast and sugar in the milk.
Work the butter into the sifted flour, then add to the liquid and mix well.
Cover with a bread towel and allow to stand until very light; about two or three hours, according to the temperature.
Work down gently and allow rise again from one-half to three-quarter hours.
Shape and fill
Dust the board with flour and roll out the dough ten inches wide and one-fourth inch thick.
Spread over the dough butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and currants, using these freely.
Roll up similar to a jelly roll and cut into pieces one and one-half inches long and set on end in pans.
Prepare the pans by spreading over the bottom both butter and brown sugar about one-fourth inches deep.
Bake and serve
Allow to rise and bake as you would rolls.
When taken out of the oven turn upside down on a paper and allow to stand a minute before removing from the pan.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 starch and gluten structure that holds the rolls together.
- Yeast
- Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness, and helps the pan coating brown and release.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour so the dough can form and develop gluten.
- Brown sugar
- Sweetens the filling and caramelizes in the pan to form a sticky topping.
The step that matters
Let the dough rise until very light. Yeast needs enough time to produce gas; underproofed dough stays dense and bakes up heavy, while the rolls need room to expand in the pan.
“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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