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 ↓
Butter Sticks
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cream center
Melt 2 lbs of fondant in a double boiler.
Add a few drops of vanilla and ½ lb of butter.
Stir until dissolved.
Add enough powdered sugar to make the mixture stiff and keep it warm.
Make the jacket
In a kettle, combine 6 lbs of sugar, 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar, and 3 pints of water.
Set on fire and mix.
When boiling, remove the paddle and cover the kettle.
After a few minutes, uncover and wash the sides of the kettle with a wet brush.
Insert a thermometer and cook until it reaches 330°F (165°C).
Add ½ lb of butter and ½ teaspoon of salt.
Stir until the butter is melted.
Remove from heat and pour onto a greased slab.
Fold the edges in.
Shape and finish
Wear gloves.
Pull the mixture no more than five times on the hook.
Flatten it out on a table in front of a furnace.
Place the cream center in a round loaf.
Fold the jacket around the center.
Seal the ends.
Spin into small sticks about the size of a pencil.
Mark in two-inch lengths with a caramel marker.
Break apart.
Place in jars.
Turn the batch often to prevent the jacket from chilling and cracking.
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.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Vanilla and sugar 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
- Fondant
- Forms the soft, smooth body of the cream center.
- Sugar
- Provides sweetness and, when cooked, the structure of the hard jacket.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the sugar syrup, helping prevent crystallization for a smoother texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, softening the texture of both the center and the jacket.
The step that matters
Cooking the jacket to 330°F (165°C). Sugar syrup must reach the target temperature to set firm enough to shape. Too little cooking leaves the jacket soft and sticky, while overcooking makes it brittle and prone to cracking.
“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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