Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Make the dough
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add baking soda, salt, sweet milk, and grated nutmeg to the mixture.
Stir in enough oatmeal to moisten the mixture.
Cut the raisins in half and add them to the dough.
Add flour until the dough is manageable.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into thin cakes by rolling it in your hands and flattening it.
Place the cookies on a baking sheet and bake until lightly golden.
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.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Nutmeg + raisintop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Creams with sugar to add richness and a tender texture to the cookies.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps give the cookies golden browning.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the dough to help the cookies rise and spread slightly.
- Oatmeal
- Absorbs moisture and firms the dough so it holds its shape.
- Flour
- Adds structure so the dough can be handled and shaped.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and natural sweetness throughout the cookies.
The step that matters
Stir in enough oatmeal to moisten the mixture. Oatmeal absorbs liquid from the dough, so adding too much makes the cookies dry and crumbly, while too little leaves them soft and hard to shape.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, milk, raisin, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Jalapenofits less well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, milk, raisin, flour. 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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