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Dessert

Almond Buttercups

A candied almond confection made with sugar, glucose, butter, and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Almond Buttercups

Ingredients

Directions

Make the almond centre

  1. Combine 3 pounds of sugar, 4 pounds of glucose, 1 pint of water, and 1 pound of butter in a copper pan.

  2. Stir and cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage.

  3. Remove the pan from heat and add 3 pounds of chopped almonds and 1 teaspoon of salt.

  4. Stir the mixture well.

  5. Pour the mixture onto a marble slab dusted with flour.

Make the outside batch

  1. Cook 15 pounds of sugar, 4 pints of water, and 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar to 335°F (170°C).

  2. Pour the outside batch onto an oiled slab.

  3. Fold the outside batch together as it cools and add vanilla flavor.

Shape and finish

  1. Partly pull the batch over the hook to twist out the air and form a flat batch on a warm slab or table.

  2. Place the nut mixture on top of the outside batch, folding it over to form a round shape.

  3. Pull the mixture into small sticks.

  4. Cut the sticks using a buttercup cutter.

  5. Leave the buttercups on the slab until cold.

  6. Pack the cooled buttercups away in cans for later use.

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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,245 recipes

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

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

Almonds
Provide the nutty filling and bulk of the centre.
Glucose
Inhibits crystallisation, keeping the candy smooth and less grainy.
Crystal a sugar
Forms the sweet candy base that sets firm as it cools.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a softer, tender bite.
Cream of tartar
Acidity that helps prevent the outside sugar from crystallising.

The step that matters

Cooking the outside batch to 335°F (170°C). Sugar syrup must reach the right temperature to set firm when cooled. Too low leaves it sticky, too high makes it brittle and hard to shape.

“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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