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Dessert

Mock Mince Pies

A sweet pastry made with cracker crumbs, raisins, molasses, and spices, baked in a pie crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pies

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.

Prepare

  1. Crush the crackers into fine crumbs.

  2. In a bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, vinegar, raisins, hot water, sugar, molasses, eggs, and butter, then add spices similar to those used for mince pies and mix well until all ingredients are combined.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Raisin + molassestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Crackers
Crushed crumbs replace the bulk of traditional mincemeat, providing body and a mild, dense texture.
Eggs
Set the filling as they cook, giving it structure and holding it together when baked.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.
Molasses
Adds deep, caramel-like sweetness and a darker color to the filling.
Vinegar
Adds a sharp acidity that brightens the sweetness and balances the rich filling.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Eggs thicken as they heat, and the filling firms only when they reach a set point. Pulling the pie too early can leave a runny center, while overbaking can make the filling tough and dry.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, molasses, egg, butter):

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Raisinthe original
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Strawberryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, molasses, egg, 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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