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 ↓
Fruit 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 sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the molasses.
Dissolve the baking soda in a little water and add it to the mixture.
Fold in the chopped raisins, currants, cinnamon, and allspice.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a greased baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.
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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Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Currant + allspicetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,359 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Raisin + allspicetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,475 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps it cream with the butter to trap air.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and creaming it with sugar aerates the dough.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- New orleans molasses
- Adds moisture, deep sweetness, and color to the cookies.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses to produce gas that lifts the cookies and aids browning.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the cookies.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly with the acidic molasses; undissolved clumps can leave bitter spots and uneven rising.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, molasses, raisin, cinnamon, allspice):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, molasses, raisin, 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.
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