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Dessert

Snow Balls

Snow Balls are sweet balls made from sugar, milk, eggs, soda, cream tartar, flour, fried in lard and coated in powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Snow Balls

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Snow Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Combine sugar, eggs, milk, cream of tartar, soda (if the milk is sour) or half teaspoon (if not), spice to taste, and enough flour to form balls.

Fry and coat

  1. Fry the mixture in hot lard.

  2. Dip the fried balls in egg white, then coat with powdered sugar until white.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

327Calories
15 gProtein
19 gFat
26 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Des Moines. Plymouth church. [from old catalog]. 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. See the original page.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together738 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Sugar
Adds sweetness and a light, fine crust when coated with powdered sugar.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help hold the balls together.
Milk
Adds moisture so the dough can be formed into balls.
Cream of tartar
Acid that works with the soda to lighten the dough.
Soda
Neutralises the acid in sour milk and helps the balls rise.

The step that matters

Frying in hot lard. The lard must be hot enough to set the outside of each ball quickly. If it is too cool, the dough soaks up fat and turns greasy and heavy instead of crisp and light.

“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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