Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Peuit Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the dough
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar.
Add the eggs and buttermilk, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, and cinnamon.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture until a stiff dough forms.
Fold in the chopped raisins.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
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.
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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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Clove + raisintop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,070 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness, moisture and caramel flavour that suits the spices.
- Butter
- Provides fat that makes the cookies tender and adds rich flavour.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and set during baking to give the cookies structure.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the dough to help the cookies rise and brown.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and natural sweetness throughout the cookies.
The step that matters
Gradually add the dry ingredients until a stiff dough forms. Mixing the flour in gently and only until combined keeps gluten development low, so the cookies stay tender rather than tough.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, sugar, raisin, butter, egg, buttermilk):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Allspicefits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, sugar, raisin, butter, egg, buttermilk. 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.
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