Name: Baking for Others: Baking As an ArtEVENT:VENUE:PARTY SIZE:TYPE:MENU*:DESSERT:Mexican Wedding CakesCinnamon-Mocha Dolce De Leche Bites
Yield: Makes about 60 cookiesMakes 48 cookies
Ingredients: ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened; 3 tablespoons powdered sugar; 1 tablespoons brown sugar; ¼ cup sugar; 1 teaspoon bourbon; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 cup finely chopped toasted walnuts*; ½ cup (1 stick) butter; ¼ cup sugar; 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder; 1 egg; 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1/3 cup chocolate chips (measured, then chopped); ¼ cup heath bar bits (use any kind of caramel candy); In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugars, and espresso powder until the espresso is dissolved and the texture is creamy. Beat in the egg until smooth again. In a separate bowl, stir together the cinnamon, flour, and salt, then add them to the butter mixture, stirring only until combined. Toss in th; Break the dough into two semi-equal pieces. Roll each into about a 10-inch long log, as round as you can get it. Chill in the freezer for an hour (you can also chill in the fridge for a day or two, or keep frozen for a month).

Why it works: Walnut and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,147 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

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.

Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,147 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, cinnamon, chocolate, cream):

Almondfits better
Hazelnutfits better
Pistachiofits about as well
Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, cinnamon, chocolate, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Chocolate	1 oz (28g) semisweet	155
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Walnut	1 walnut half (4g)	26
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Coffee	not in our table	0

Baking for Others: Baking As an ArtEVENT:VENUE:PARTY SIZE:TYPE:MENU*:DESSERT:Mexican Wedding CakesCinnamon-Mocha Dolce De Leche Bites