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Dessert

Cocoanut Fig Squares

A sweet treat made from figs, coconut, and sugar, cooked to a caramel consistency and cut into squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Fig and coconut share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cocoanut Fig Squares

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fig mixture

  1. In a large pot, combine sugar, glucose, and enough water to dissolve the sugar.

  2. Add ground figs and cook the mixture until it reaches 240°F (115°C).

  3. Remove from heat and stir in the fine coconut until well combined.

Shape and finish

  1. Pour the mixture onto a slab and roll it out to the height of caramels.

  2. Once cooled, cut into small squares and roll them in granulated sugar.

  3. Sift off any excess sugar before storing.

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. Fig + coconuttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + figtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,241 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + coconuttop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,742 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, when cooked, the firm body that holds the squares together.
Glucose
Inhibits crystallisation, keeping the mixture smooth and preventing grainy sugar texture.
Ground figs
Supplies the main fruit flavour and bulk, along with natural sweetness and moisture.
Fine coconut
Adds texture and absorbs moisture, helping the mixture set into a chewable body.

The step that matters

Cooking the mixture to 240°F (115°C). This temperature determines how much water remains. Undercooked mixtures stay soft and sticky, while overcooked ones become hard and brittle once cooled.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, fig):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Pearfits better
  4. Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, fig. 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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