Skip to main content
Dessert

Mock Mince Pies

A sweet pie made with raisins, molasses, butter, sugar, and spices, using crackers as a base.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Mock Mince Pies

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Combine the rolled crackers and warm water in a large bowl, and let the mixture sit until the crackers soften.

  2. Add the chopped raisins, whole raisins, melted butter, yellow sugar, and molasses to the mixture.

  3. Stir in the cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg until well combined.

Bake

  1. Fill pie crusts with the mixture and bake 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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Rolled crackers
Soak up the water and form a starchy body that thickens the filling.
Raisins
Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the filling.
Melted butter
Adds richness and a smooth, fat-coated mouthfeel to the filling.
Yellow sugar
Provides sweetness and helps the filling brown and caramelize while baking.
Molasses
Contributes deep sweetness, moisture, and a dark, rich flavor.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg. 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.

You might also like

Molasses CookiesMolasses Cookies96 recipesMolasses CakeMolasses Cake90 recipesCinnamon RollsCinnamon Rolls71 recipesClove CakeClove Cake53 recipes