Why it works: Walnut and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,873 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Walnut Cookies
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the dough
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the pounded walnut meats and fine sugar.
Add the well beaten egg and milk, and stir until combined.
Gradually add flour until the dough is thin enough to roll out.
Fold in the baking powder.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden.
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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Walnut + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,873 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,035 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Walnut meats
- Provide the main body and nutty flavor of the cookie.
- Fine sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cookies brown as they bake.
- Egg
- Binds the dough together and adds structure to the cookie.
- Milk
- Adds moisture so the dough comes together smoothly.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the cookies rise slightly and lighten.
The step that matters
Gradually add flour until the dough is thin enough to roll out. Adding flour a little at a time lets you stop once the dough is rollable. Too much flour makes the cookies dry and tough, while too little leaves the dough sticky and hard to shape.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, sugar, egg, milk, flour):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
- Pistachiofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, sugar, egg, milk, flour. 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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