Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
A Plate of Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the dough
In a bowl, beat together the butter, coffee sugar, and egg until creamy.
Sift the salt and baking soda with the flour.
Add the floured raisins and mix well.
Alternately add the milk and flour, beating the mixture thoroughly.
Add whole wheat flour until a dough forms that can be rolled out easily.
Bake
Cut the dough into desired shapes and bake until golden.
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.
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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,202 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the cookies tender and rich.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk to lift the dough and aid browning.
- Sour creamy milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda, helping the cookies rise and brown.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.
- Coffee sugar
- Sweetens the dough and helps it brown during baking.
The step that matters
Add whole wheat flour until a dough forms that can be rolled out easily.. Flour absorbs liquid and builds gluten, so adding too much makes the cookies dry and tough, while too little leaves a sticky dough that is hard to cut and shape.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coffee, sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, wheat):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinthe original
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against coffee, sugar, butter, milk, egg, flour, wheat. 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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