Skip to main content

Chocolate Cherry Drops

"This a delicious chewy chocolate cookie recipe that my mother gave me years ago. Hope you enjoy it."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 35,031 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

The recipe

4 dozen
Prep15 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

  2. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and white sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

  3. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth.

  4. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

  5. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until just combined.

  6. Fold in the chopped maraschino cherries and chopped walnuts until evenly distributed.

  7. Drop heaping teaspoons of dough about 2 inches (5 cm) apart onto the prepared baking sheets.

  8. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges are set. Cool on the sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Vanilla + cocoa powdertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + vanillatop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together19,983 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Flour + cocoa powdertop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,177 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, cocoa powder):

  1. Almondbetter flavor fit
  2. Cocoabetter flavor fit
  3. Hazelnutbetter flavor fit
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, cocoa powder. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).