Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Hot Snow Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Cream the butter and add the confectioners' sugar. Beat for five minutes.
Sift the flour and baking powder together, then add to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk.
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Steam and serve
Fill buttered cups half full and steam for 30 minutes.
Serve with orange marmalade and whipped cream or your favorite sauce.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Pastry flour
- Provides the structure that holds the light batter together as it cooks.
- Butter
- Creams with the sugar to add richness and a tender texture.
- Eggs whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the batter and help it rise.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during cooking, helping the snow balls rise and turn light.
- Confectioners' sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the butter become smooth and fluffy when creamed.
The step that matters
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Folding gently keeps the air whipped into the egg whites. Stirring hard would deflate the batter and make the steamed snow balls dense.
“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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