Why it works: Almond and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Clove 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 the dough
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the milk, chopped almonds, oil of cloves, and baking powder; mix well.
Gradually add flour until the dough is firm enough to roll.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly 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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Almond + flourtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Almond + clovetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,605 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Creaming with sugar traps air and gives the cookies a tender, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Creamed with butter for a light structure and adds sweetness and browning.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that lets the dough be rolled and hold its cut shapes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking to give the cookies lift.
- Almonds
- Add texture and a nutty flavour to the dough.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the dough is firm enough to roll. Too much flour makes the cookies dry and tough, while too little leaves a sticky dough that spreads and is hard to cut. Adding it gradually lets you stop when the dough reaches a rollable firmness.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, milk, almond, flour):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Capersfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, milk, almond, flour. 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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