Why it works: Sugar and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Cinnamon Flakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Roll out puff pastry to ¼ inch thickness in circles or squares.
Use a knife to score the surface into diamond shapes.
Assemble
Spread jelly or jam over the pastry.
Sift sugar on top and sprinkle generously with cinnamon.
Place on floured baking sheets.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until thoroughly baked.
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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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Puff pastry
- Its layers of fat and dough separate and puff into a light, flaky texture as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and caramelizes on the surface, giving browning and a crisp finish.
- Jelly or jam
- Adds fruity sweetness and moisture that flavors the layers as the pastry bakes.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm aroma and flavor that pairs with the sweet jelly and caramelized sugar.
The step that matters
Bake until fully cooked and caramelized. Puff pastry needs enough heat to set its layers and dry out, and sugar only caramelizes when the oven is hot enough. Pulling the pastry early leaves it doughy inside and pale rather than crisp.
“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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