Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Currant 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.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the milk or cream.
Mix in the baking soda, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Gradually add flour until the dough is stiff.
Fold in the currants.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until 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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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 trap air, giving the cookies a light, tender texture and rich flavor.
- Sugar
- Creams with butter for airy structure and adds sweetness and browning.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to lift the dough and encourage browning in the oven.
- Flour
- Builds the stiff dough structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.
- Currants
- Add chewy pockets of fruit sweetness and acidity throughout the cookies.
The step that matters
Adding the flour. Flour should be added gradually until the dough is stiff. Too much flour makes cookies dry and dense, while too little makes them spread and lose shape. Gluten develops with overmixing, so stir just until combined.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, egg, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, egg, nutmeg, cinnamon, 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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