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Dessert

Chocolate Bonbons

Chocolate bonbons are chocolate-coated confections with nut or sugar centers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Chocolate Bonbons

Ingredients

Directions

Make the fondant

  1. In a dipping pot, melt 1 ounce of chocolate for each pound of cream over low heat.

  2. Once melted, add the cream and stir until dissolved.

  3. Add ½ pint of simple syrup for each pound of melted fondant.

Make the centers

  1. For centers, finely chop English walnuts, hickory nuts, or Brazil nuts.

  2. Mix the chopped nuts with enough cream to form a paste.

  3. To make chocolate centers, cook 3 pounds of sugar with ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar and 3 ounces of chocolate until it reaches a soft ball stage.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Stir in ¼ ounce of ground cinnamon.

  6. Granulate briefly.

Mold and dip

  1. Use a funnel to pour into starch prints in your desired shape.

  2. Let them set in a cool place overnight.

  3. Remove from the starch and dip.

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. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Chocolate + cinnamontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,808 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Cream
Adds richness and moisture, and forms the base of the soft fondant.
Chocolate
Adds flavor and color to the fondant and to the chocolate centers.
Simple syrup
Adds liquid sweetness that keeps the fondant smooth and pourable.
Sugar
Forms the sweet crystalline structure of the centers when cooked to soft ball stage.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the sugar syrup, helping prevent crystals from forming too large.

The step that matters

Cooking the sugar to soft ball stage. Cooking the sugar to the correct temperature controls how much water remains, which sets the firmness of the centers. Too little cooking leaves them soft and sticky, while too much makes them hard.

“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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