Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Baked Apples
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.
Prepare
Cut apples in half and remove the cores.
Place the apples in a baking pan with the cored side up.
Make the syrup and bake
In a pot, combine sugar and water, cover, and bring to a boil for 30 minutes.
Remove the cover and pour the syrup over the apples.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until browned to your liking.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
- Apples
- Provide the fruit that softens as it bakes while holding its shape, with tartness balancing the sweetness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and browns on the apples' surface in the oven.
The step that matters
Baking until browned to your liking. Sugar browns quickly at oven heat while the apple flesh keeps softening. Checking early prevents the apples from collapsing into mush before the surface is golden.
“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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