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Dessert

Filbert Buttercups

A confection made from confectioners' sugar, glucose, butter, water, and chopped filberts, formed into sticks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Filbert Buttercups

Ingredients

Directions

Make the nut batch

  1. Combine 5 pounds confectioners' sugar, 3 pounds glucose, 1 pound butter, and 2 pints water in a copper kettle.

  2. Cook until it reaches a good ball stage.

  3. Add 4 pounds chopped filberts to the mixture and mix well.

  4. Set aside.

Make the outside batch

  1. Combine 16 pounds confectioners' sugar, 4 pints water, and 1 teaspoon cream of tartar in a copper kettle.

  2. Stir and cook until it boils.

  3. Wash down the sides of the pan.

  4. Continue cooking until it reaches 335°F (170°C).

  5. Pour the mixture onto an oiled slab.

  6. Fold it together as it cools.

  7. Add vanilla flavor and pull until well pulled.

Shape and set

  1. Dust a cool slab with flour.

  2. Turn out the nut batch onto it.

  3. Allow it to cool enough to handle.

  4. Shape the pulled batch into a flat mass on a warm table.

  5. Lay the nut batch on top and form it into a round shape.

  6. Pull out into sticks as thick as your finger.

  7. Cut using a buttercup machine.

  8. Lay the pieces on a cold slab.

  9. Leave until cold.

  10. Pack in tin cans or tight jars for storage.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Butter + filberttop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together52 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Confectioners' sugar
Forms the bulk of the sweet, sugar-based candy structure as it cooks.
Glucose
Inhibits sugar crystallisation, keeping the candy smooth and less grainy.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavour in the nut batch.
Filberts
Add nutty flavour and texture to the centre of the candy.
Cream of tartar
Acidifies the sugar, helping prevent crystallisation and keeping the candy smooth.

The step that matters

Continue cooking until it reaches 335°F (170°C).. Sugar must reach the correct temperature to set to the intended firmness; undercooking leaves candy soft and overcooking makes it hard or brittle.

Swap the filbert

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, cream, vanilla, flour):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Chestnutfits better
  3. Macadamia nutfits better
  4. Filbertthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, cream, vanilla, 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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