Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Nut 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 the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Mix in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and allspice.
Fold in the chopped dates and walnuts.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto buttered baking sheets.
Bake for 10-12 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.
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.
-
Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,147 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Dates + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together283 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
-
Walnut + allspicetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together553 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Dates + walnuttop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together302 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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 and give the cookies a tender, rich texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and moisture as the cookies set.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the dough to help the cookies rise and spread and brown.
- Dates
- Add natural sweetness and moisture, keeping the cookies chewy.
- Walnuts
- Add crunch and a toasty, nutty flavor against the soft dough.
The step that matters
Bake until golden, not longer. Cookies keep firming as they cool, and over-baking dries them out and makes them hard. Pulling them when the edges turn golden keeps the centers soft and chewy.
Swap the dates
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, flour, walnut, cinnamon, allspice):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Datesthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour, walnut, cinnamon, allspice. 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.
More nut cookies recipes
You might also like
Cinnamon Rolls71 recipes
Cinnamon Cake42 recipes
Stuffed Dates32 recipes
White Cake431 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.