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Dessert

New England Doughnuts

A fried doughnut made with sugar, melted coconut oil, eggs, milk, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

New England Doughnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Beat the eggs until very light.

  2. Add the sugar and beat well.

  3. Mix in the melted coconut oil.

  4. Sift the salt and baking powder with the flour.

  5. Add the milk and flour mixture to the egg mixture.

Shape and fry

  1. Roll out the dough and cut into shapes.

  2. Fry in hot coconut oil.

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. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

Eggs
Beaten light, they add structure and richness to the dough.
Baking powder
Releases gas during cooking, helping the doughnuts rise and turn light.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the dough together and sets when fried.
Milk
Adds moisture, hydrating the flour so the dough can be rolled and cut.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps browning in the fryer.
Cottolene
Adds fat, which tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.

The step that matters

Fry in hot coconut oil. If the oil is too cool, doughnuts absorb grease and turn heavy; if too hot, the outside browns before the centre cooks through. Steady, moderate heat gives an even, light result.

“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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