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 ↓
Cornflake Macaroons
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cream the butter, then add the brown sugar and beaten egg until very light.
Mix in the milk, sifted flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix as little as possible.
If necessary, add more flour to make a stiff dough.
Roll half of the dough and cut with a doughnut cutter.
Fry in deep fat until a cube of bread browns in 70 seconds, turning only once.
Lift out and drain on unglazed paper, then roll in fruit sugar.
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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Flour + cinnamontop 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).
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Nuts + cinnamontop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together487 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Nuts + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,180 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
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Cashew nutfits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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