Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Stuffed Sweet Rolls
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.
Prepare the rolls
Halve the rolls lengthwise and remove the crumb.
Soak the crusts in a little cold milk for a few minutes while preparing the filling.
Make the filling
Pare and core the apples, then cook them with ½ cup of water, ½ oz. of butter, and 1 tablespoon of sugar until soft.
Mash the apples to a pulp with a wooden spoon.
Add the currants, almonds, macaroons, 1 beaten egg, and the yolk of the other egg to the apple mixture.
Mix well and add some breadcrumbs to form a fairly firm mass.
Bake and serve
Fill the crusts of the rolls with the mixture and press the two halves together.
Place the rolls in a baking tin, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and scatter bits of butter on top.
Bake the rolls at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Serve warm.
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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,514 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cinnamon and sugar 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
- Cooking apples
- Cook down to a pulp that gives the filling its moist, soft body.
- Ground sweet almonds
- Add richness and a dense, tender texture to the filling.
- Crushed macaroons
- Add sweetness and a crumbly texture that helps bind the filling.
- Eggs
- Bind the filling together and help it set firm when baked.
- Currants
- Add chewy pockets of sweetness and fruitiness throughout the filling.
The step that matters
Forming the firm filling mass. Breadcrumbs soak up moisture from the cooked apples and egg, so the filling holds its shape in the crusts. Adding too little leaves it runny, and too much makes it dry and dense.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, almond, egg, milk, cinnamon, butter, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, almond, egg, milk, cinnamon, butter, sugar. 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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