Name: Cinnamon, or Lemon Cakes
Ingredients: 1 pound fine dry flour; 6 ounces good butter; ¾ pound sifted sugar; 2 teaspoons pounded cinnamon (or to taste); 3 to 4 eggs

Why it works: Flour and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cinnamon, or Lemon Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA very gentle oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the dough

Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles crumbs.
Add the sugar and cinnamon, then mix to form a firm paste with the eggs.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of about ¼ inch and cut into shapes.

Bake and store

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until done.
Allow to cool, then store in a clean, dry tin canister.

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.

Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,784 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

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

Flour: Provides the main structure that holds the cakes together as they bake.
Butter: Rubbed into the flour to add richness and a tender, crumbly texture.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the cakes brown as they bake.
Cinnamon: Gives the cakes their characteristic warm, spiced aroma and flavour.
Eggs: Bind the mixture into a firm paste that holds its cut shape.

The step that matters

Rolling and cutting the dough to an even thickness. Even thickness, about ¼ inch, lets the cakes bake at the same rate so thin pieces do not burn while thick ones stay raw. Cutting shapes from a firm paste also keeps them from spreading in the oven.