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Dessert

Cocoanut Wafers

Coconut wafers are a sweet snack made from cake crumbs, molasses, water, baking soda, shredded coconut, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Cocoanut Wafers

Why it works: Molasses and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,429 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cocoanut Wafers

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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.

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, combine cake crumbs, molasses, water, and baking soda.

  2. Mix in shredded coconut and enough flour to form a fair dough.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick.

  2. Cut into 3-inch rounds using a cutter.

  3. Place on a baking sheet and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Coconut + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,315 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Molasses + coconuttop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together96 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cake crumbs
Provide the bulk and body of the dough.
Molasses
Adds moisture, sweetness, and a deep color as the wafers brown.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses acidity to lighten the dough and help it rise.
Shredded coconut
Adds chewy texture and toasty flavor to the wafers.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, flour):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, flour. 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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