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Dessert

Buns

A sweet yeast bun flavored with rose water, cinnamon, and nutmeg, baked until golden.

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

Buns

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Mix butter and flour in a bowl until smooth.

  2. Add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; mix well.

  3. Incorporate eggs, rose water, and enough milk to create a thick batter.

  4. Knead in the yeast, cover, and let rise in a warm place overnight.

  5. Knead again.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill buttered tins with the dough, filling them three-quarters full.

  2. Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven until done.

  3. Let cool.

  4. Cut into squares.

  5. Sift sugar over the tops.

  6. Return to the oven for a couple of minutes to finish baking.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh butter
Adds richness and tenderness, and helps make the dough soft and smooth.
Fine white flour
Provides the structure that holds the buns together as the batter sets.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, and help bind the batter.
Fresh yeast
Produces gas that makes the dough rise and gives the buns a light crumb.
Caster sugar
Sweetens the buns and helps them brown during baking.
Rose water
Adds a floral aroma that defines the flavour of the buns.

The step that matters

Let the dough rise overnight in a warm place. Yeast needs time and warmth to produce gas. Under-proofed dough bakes dense, while the rise sets the light texture the buns depend on.

“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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