Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Fruit Cookies
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.
Fold in the chopped raisins and citron.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
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.
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Clove + raisintop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,070 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to trap air, giving the cookies a light, tender texture and rich flavor.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and moisture as they set in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and, creamed with butter, helps create a light texture and golden browning.
- Chopped raisins
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness and moisture throughout the cookies.
The step that matters
Creaming the butter and sugar. Beating until light and fluffy traps air in the fat, which expands in the oven and lifts the cookies. Under-creamed dough bakes denser and flatter.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, clove):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
- Lemonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, clove. 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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