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Popcorn Espresso Macchiato Balls

Stonkingly moreish, these popcorn balls are squidged together with marshmallow and blessed with a liberal sprinkling of crunchy, ground espresso coffee.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and coffee match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,497 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells buttery, creamy. The science ↓

The recipe

Makes 18 popcorn balls
Prep30 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chocolate + coffeetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,497 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (buttery, creamy).

  2. Coffee + beanstop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together289 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  3. Butter + chocolatetop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,480 recipes

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

  4. Butter + beanstop 10% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,792 recipes

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

  5. Chocolate + beanstop 10% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together303 recipes

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

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

Flavor stand-ins for the beans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, chocolate, coffee):

  1. Cocoabetter flavor fit
  2. Pecansbetter flavor fit
  3. Peanutbetter flavor fit
  4. Beansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, chocolate, coffee. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).