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Dessert

Doughnuts with Baking-Powder

A fried doughnut made with flour, baking powder, eggs, milk, butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Doughnuts with Baking-Powder

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the dough

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder.

  2. In another bowl, beat eggs and mix in milk, melted butter, and sugar.

  3. Combine wet and dry ingredients until just mixed.

Shape the doughnuts

  1. Roll out dough on a floured board to about ½ inch thick.

  2. Cut into doughnut shapes using a cutter.

Fry and drain

  1. Heat 3 pounds of fat in a frying bowl to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Fry doughnuts until golden brown, then drain on unglazed paper.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Builds the structure that holds the doughnut's shape while it fries.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the dough bind and set.
Baking powder
Releases gas that makes the dough rise and lighten.
Milk
Adds moisture, hydrating the flour and softening the dough.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and flavour in the dough.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown during frying.

The step that matters

Keep the frying fat at the right temperature. If the fat is too cool, the dough soaks up oil and turns greasy. If it is too hot, the outside browns before the centre cooks through. Steady heat gives even cooking and a light, golden result.

“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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