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 dough
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and butter until crumbly.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface until thin, then cut into squares.
Assemble the dumplings
Place two apple halves in the center of each square.
Sprinkle each apple with 1 tablespoon of sugar and a pinch of cinnamon.
Fold the dough over the apples and seal tightly.
Bake and serve
Place the dumplings in a greased baking dish with the smooth side up.
Top each dumpling with a small piece of butter and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
Pour boiling water into the dish around the dumplings.
Bake for 45 minutes, basting once with the liquid.
Serve warm 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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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the dough's structure, holding the dumpling together around the apples.
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the dough tender and rich, and melts into the sauce.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the dough so it rises and bakes up light.
- Apples
- Soften as they bake and release juices that mingle with the sugar into a syrup.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, as it dissolves in the baking liquid, helps form a syrup and browning.
The step that matters
Seal the dough tightly around the apples. Any gap lets the sugar and juices leak out during baking, leaving the apples dry and the dough less cohesive. A firm seal keeps the filling inside and the syrup concentrated.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon. 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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