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Tennis Buns

Small baked buns with candied peel, made from flour, sugar, baking powder, egg, butter, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. J. Edmonds Ltd. · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Tennis Buns

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Rub butter into flour.

  2. Add the other dry ingredients and mix well.

  3. Add the egg, well beaten.

  4. Add enough milk to make a stiff dough.

  5. Rub the butter (or lard) into flour.

  6. Add the other dry ingredients.

  7. Add sufficient milk to make a stiff dough.

Shape and bake

  1. Place in small lots on a cold greased oven shelf.

  2. Put a piece of candied peel on top of each.

  3. Bake in quick oven about 10 minutes.

  4. Place on cold greased oven shelf in rocky shapes.

  5. Bake in hot oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

833Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
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 T. J. Edmonds Ltd.. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the buns together once the dough is set by heat.
Butter
Coats the flour and shortens its gluten, giving a tender, crumbly texture.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds richness and structure to the crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the oven, helping the buns rise and become light.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown in the oven.
Milk
Hydrates the flour so it forms a stiff, workable dough.

The step that matters

Place on a cold greased shelf, then bake in a hot oven. A hot oven sets the outside of the buns quickly, so they rise and hold their shape. Fat that is still cold when it goes in melts gradually, which helps the buns keep their form instead of spreading.

“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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