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Dessert

Chocolate Peppebmints

A confection of egg white, sugar, chocolate, and peppermint oil, molded into squares.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Chocolate Peppebmints

Ingredients

Directions

Make the peppermint centres

  1. Beat the egg white with confectioner's sugar and add 5 drops of oil of peppermint until thick enough to mold.

  2. Chill the mixture before covering it with melted chocolate.

Make the fudge layer

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add sugar and milk.

  2. Heat to boiling, then add chocolate and stir until melted.

  3. Boil slowly for 13 minutes, then remove from heat and add vanilla.

  4. Set the dish in cold water and beat until it thickens.

  5. Pour into a buttered pan and mark into squares when slightly cooled.

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.

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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Peppermint + vanillatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together459 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla 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

Egg white
Whips into a thick, stable base that holds the peppermint centres together.
Confectioner's sugar
Thickens the whipped egg white into a moldable mixture while adding sweetness.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the fudge layer, giving it a smooth, tender texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the fudge and helps it set firm as the mixture cools and thickens.
Milk
Provides moisture and milk solids that soften the fudge into a creamy texture.
Chocolate
Supplies flavour and a melted coating over the centres, then enriches the fudge.

The step that matters

Boil slowly for 13 minutes. Boiling the sugar and milk mixture for the set time drives off water and concentrates the sugar. Too little cooking leaves the fudge soft, and too much makes it hard and grainy.

Swap the peppermint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, chocolate, vanilla):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Peppermintthe original
  4. Clovefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, chocolate, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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