Name: Dipped Maple Bonbons
Ingredients: 3 to 4 pounds Maple Cream; 2 pounds Maple Sugar; whites of 3 Eggs; English Walnut halves; 1 ½ pounds powdered Sugar; 1 fresh grated Coconut; 4 pounds Maple Sugar; 1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Why it works: Walnut and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 606 recipes. Both carry 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine, which smells cocoa, roasted. The science ↓

Dipped Maple Bonbons

Ingredients

Directions

Make the maple centers

Prepare 3 to 4 pounds of Maple Cream as for white centers.
Cook 2 pounds of Maple Sugar to a soft ball stage (around 240°F or 115°C).
Whip the whites of 3 eggs to a stiff foam.
Mix the whipped egg whites into the cooled maple sugar.
Roll the mixture into balls.
Dip the balls in the Maple Cream.
Dip English Walnut halves in the Maple Cream as well.

Make the coconut balls

Mix 1 fresh grated coconut with 1 ½ pounds of powdered sugar to form a paste.
Roll the coconut‑sugar paste into balls.
Dip the coconut balls in the Maple Cream.

Make the creamed batch

Cook 4 pounds of Maple Sugar with 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar to 265°F (130°C).
Stir in 2 grated coconuts.
Pour the mixture onto a damp slab.
Cream the mixture.
Form into balls.

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.

Walnut + coconuttop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together606 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + coconuttop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,223 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cream + walnuttop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Maple sugar: Provides the main sweetness and, when cooked and creamed, the soft crystalline texture of the centers.
Whites of eggs: Whipped to a foam, they lighten the maple sugar mixture and give it a softer, airier body.
Cream of tartar: Its mild acidity helps keep the cooked sugar smooth by limiting large sugar crystals.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens the coconut and binds it into a rollable paste.
Grated coconut: Adds moisture, chewy texture and flavor to the coconut balls and the creamed batch.

The step that matters

Cooking the maple sugar to 265°F with cream of tartar. Cooking to the right temperature sets how much water is left in the sugar, which controls firmness. Cream of tartar helps prevent large sugar crystals, so the mixture creams smooth instead of grainy.