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 ↓
Oat Meal Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Cream the sugar and butter together.
Add the beaten eggs and chopped raisins, mixing well.
Sift together the cinnamon, baking soda, and flour, then add to the mixture.
Stir in the salt and oatmeal until combined.
Bake
Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a baking sheet.
Bake for 25 minutes in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).
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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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Creams with sugar to give the cookies richness and a tender texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add moisture and structure as the cookies set.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the cookies together as they bake.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the dough to help the cookies rise and spread and brown.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cookies and helps them brown and stay soft.
- Oatmeal
- Adds chewiness and a hearty texture to the cookies.
The step that matters
Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a baking sheet.. Spacing and portion size control spread, since the dough softens as it bakes and can merge into thin, flat cookies if the portions are too large or too close together.
“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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