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 ↓
Chocolate Drops
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the confectioner's sugar and cream for 6 minutes.
Beat the mixture until cool.
Once cool, mold the mixture into drops.
Roll the drops in melted chocolate.
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.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Confectioner's sugar
- Forms the sweet, firm body of the drops as it sets.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and softness, making the sugar mixture smooth and pliable.
- Melted chocolate
- Forms a sweet, flavorful coating around each drop.
The step that matters
Beat the mixture until cool. The sugar mixture must cool and thicken before shaping. Molding it while still hot leaves it sticky and hard to handle, and the drops may not hold their shape.
“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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