Name: Stuffed Baked Apples
Ingredients: Apples; ½ cup blanched almonds; ¼ cup sugar; 1 teaspoon Bee Brand Seeded raisins; 1 teaspoon apple extract; Water

Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Stuffed Baked Apples

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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

Core and peel the apples.
Fill each apple with sugar, raisins, and almonds.
Place the apples in a pan.
Add water to half the depth of the fruit.
Add a spoonful of sugar to each apple.

Bake and serve

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
Remove from the oven.
Place the apples on a dish.
Pour syrup around the apples.
Serve with whipped and sweetened cream flavored with apple extract.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,781 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,920 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple + almondtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,025 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Apples: Form the main body of the dish and soften into a tender, sweet fruit when baked.
Blanched almonds: Add crunch and a nutty flavor that contrasts with the soft baked fruit.
Sugar: Sweetens the filling and helps form a syrup with the water and apple juices.
Raisins: Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness inside each apple.

The step that matters

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.. Apples can turn to mush if overbaked or stay firm if underbaked. The fruit should be tender enough to yield to a knife while still holding its shape, which depends on watching the apples rather than relying only on a set time.