Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 ↓
Albers Oat 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 and bake
In a bowl, mix together the oats, butter, brown sugar, milk, baking powder, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves until well combined.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto buttered baking sheets, spacing them three inches apart.
Bake until light brown, about 10-12 minutes.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Nutmeg + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Oats + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,394 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Oats
- Provide the bulk and chewy texture of the cookie.
- Butter or shortening
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness, and helps the cookies brown.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and promotes browning.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that helps the cookies rise and lighten.
- Hygienic flour
- Gives the dough structure as the cookies set in the oven.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that binds the dough together.
The step that matters
Bake until light brown. Baking only until light brown keeps the cookies soft and chewy; leaving them longer dries them out and makes them hard as the sugar and butter continue to set and firm up as they cool.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oats, butter, sugar, milk, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg):
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovethe original
- Allspicefits about as well
- Gingerfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against oats, butter, sugar, milk, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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