Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 122,858 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulsethe flour, salt and sugar to combine.
Add the butter and pulse until the flour resembles coarse, uneven cornmeal, about 10 1-second pulses.
Drizzle 5 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture.
Pulse several times to work the water into the flour.
Add the remaining water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue pulsing until the mixture develops small curds.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface, shape it into a disc and cover with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough to 1/16-inch thickness.
Cut out 6 (4 1/2-inch) circles. (If you don't have a cookie cutter, a wide-mouth jar works well.)
Ease the dough circles into a 12-cup (4-ounce capacity) nonstick muffin tin, pressing out any overlapping folds.
Repeat with the remaining dough.
Place the tin in the freezer for 5 minutes.
Remove and trim any overhang with the back of a knife so that the pastry cups are flush with the top of the tins.
Line dough cups with cupcake papers and fill with dried beans or pastry weights.
Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 8 to 10 minutes to set.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
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.
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Flour + buttertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together122,858 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + buttertop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together98,096 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + sugartop 10% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together89,462 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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