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Dessert

Butternut Creams

A confection made from melted fondant and finely chopped black walnut meat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Why it works: Walnut and meat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,035 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Butternut Creams

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the black walnut meats finely, ensuring no shells are present.

  2. Melt the fondant in a double boiler.

  3. Once melted, add the chopped walnuts and stir well.

Shape and finish

  1. Using a teaspoon, scoop out about ½ teaspoon of the mixture at a time.

  2. Slide the mixture onto a slab using your thumb.

  3. Once finished, allow them to crystallize or dip them in chocolate for a rich center.

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. Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,035 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Black walnut meats
Provide the main flavour and the nut texture running through the sweet fondant.
Fondant
Forms the sweet, smooth body that sets around the walnuts as it cools and crystallizes.

The step that matters

Melting the fondant gently in a double boiler. Fondant can scorch or seize when overheated. A gentle indirect heat melts it evenly so it stays smooth and pourable for shaping.

“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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