Fruit Cookies

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

2. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together18,623 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together78,219 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together92,116 recipes

   Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

Butter

Adds fat that keeps the cookies tender and rich.

Eggs

Bind the dough and add structure and richness.

Baking powder

Releases gas that lifts the dough so the cookies rise.

Sugar

Sweetens the dough and helps the tops brown.

Flour

Provides the structure that lets the dough be rolled and cut.

Swap the currant

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

1. Vanillafits better
2. Raisinfits better
3. Figfits better
4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, sugar, nutmeg, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.