Why it works: Cinnamon and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. 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. 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).
Core the apples and place them in a baking dish.
Mix sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and nuts in a bowl.
Stuff the mixture into the cored apples.
Top each apple with a small piece of butter.
Bake and serve
Bake for 30-40 minutes until tender.
Serve warm.
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 + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Raisin + nutstop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together490 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Cinnamon + nutstop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together487 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Soften when baked and provide the main body and moisture of the dish.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the apples caramelize slightly as they bake.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor as it melts into the apples.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture to the filling.
- Nuts
- Add crunch and toasty flavor that contrasts with the soft apple.
The step that matters
Bake until tender. Apples are done when a knife slides in easily, since the flesh softens as its cell walls break down with heat. Underbaked apples stay firm and starchy, while overbaking makes them collapse.
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, cinnamon, raisin, butter):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Pistachiofits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, cinnamon, raisin, butter. 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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