Bonbons or Dipping Cream
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 240°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the syrup
Combine sugar and water in a copper pan and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Wash down the sides of the pan, cover with a clean wooden cover, and boil for 5 minutes.
Remove the cover, insert a thermometer, and cook until the mixture reaches 240°F to 242°F.
Cool and knead
Pour the mixture onto a clean, wet marble slab, sprinkle with ½ pint of cold water, and let it cool.
Once cool, two people should turn the mixture with steel spatulas until it forms a solid mass.
Knead the scrapings until soft and incorporate them into the main mass.
Cover the mixture with a clean, heavy bag for 30 minutes, then knead until smooth.
Use the cream within a day or two for best results.
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
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Forms the syrup that cooks down and recrystallizes into the soft, smooth cream.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar so it can be boiled into a syrup before cooling.
- White acetic acid
- Acidity that interferes with sugar crystal formation, helping the cream stay smooth.
The step that matters
Cooking to 240°F to 242°F. Final temperature controls how much water remains and therefore the firmness of the cream. Undercooking leaves it soft and sticky; overcooking makes it hard and grainy.
“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.
More bonbons recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.