Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Apple Dumplings
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.
Prepare the dumplings
Prepare a rich biscuit dough by mixing soda or baking-powder biscuit with extra shortening.
Roll out the dough until it is almost as thin as pie crust and cut into squares large enough to cover an apple.
Place two apple halves in the center of each square, sprinkle with sugar and a pinch of ground cinnamon.
Fold the dough over the apples and seal tightly.
Bake and serve
Arrange the dumplings in a well-buttered baking pan, smooth side up.
Top each dumpling with a small piece of butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Pour in a cup of boiling water and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes.
Baste with the liquid once during baking.
Serve with pudding sauce or cream and 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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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Biscuit + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together312 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Cinnamon + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Apples
- Soften during baking and provide the fruit filling that sweetens and flavors each dumpling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, helping the dough brown and the pan liquid taste rich.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and helps form a syrupy sauce with the baking liquid.
- Ground cinnamon
- Adds warm aroma that complements the cooked apple.
The step that matters
Seal the dough tightly around the apples. A poor seal lets sugar and juices leak into the pan, so the dumplings can dry out or lose their filling while baking.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (biscuit, sugar, cinnamon, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against biscuit, sugar, cinnamon, butter. 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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