Name: Cinnamon Rolls
Ingredients: coffee-cake dough; melted butter; sugar; cinnamon

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 Rolls

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

coffee-cake dough
melted butter
sugar
cinnamon

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Shape the rolls

Roll the coffee-cake dough into a sheet ¼ inch thick.
Cut the dough into strips.
Brush the strips with melted butter.
Dust with sugar and cinnamon.
Roll the strips into shape.
Place them 1 inch apart on a buttered pan.

Rise and bake

Let them rise for 1 hour.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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.

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.

Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Coffee + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together895 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,784 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,344 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 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

Coffee-cake dough: Provides the soft, enriched structure that holds the rolls together and rises in the oven.
Melted butter: Adds richness and helps the filling spread and brown the rolls' surface.
Sugar: Sweetens the rolls and caramelizes on the surface during baking for browning.
Cinnamon: Adds warm aroma and flavor to the sugary filling.