Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Rolled Apple Dumplings
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the rolls
Make a crust with buttermilk, baking soda, and enough flour to roll out.
Roll the dough to half an inch thick.
Spread the chopped apples on the dough.
Sprinkle the apples with sugar and cinnamon.
Cut the dough into strips two inches wide.
Roll each strip up like a jelly cake.
Place the rolls in a buttered baking dish.
Add 2 teaspoons of butter on top of each roll.
Bake
Bake in the oven, basting the rolls often with the juice from the apples.
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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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon 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
- Buttermilk
- Its acidity reacts with baking soda to lift the dough and tenderize the crust.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to release gas, helping the dough rise.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough structure to roll and hold the filling.
- Tart apples
- Provide the main filling and moisture, and their juices baste the rolls during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the surface brown in the baking dish.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the filling and helps the exposed surfaces brown and caramelize.
The step that matters
Basting the rolls with apple juice. Basting keeps the exposed tops moist and lets the juices caramelize into a glaze. Repeated basting also means opening the oven often, which lets heat escape and slows baking, so keep the door open briefly.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (buttermilk, flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against buttermilk, flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter. 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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