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Dessert

Washington Biscuit

A sweet biscuit made with sugar, corn, eggs, flour, almonds, rum, topped with apricot jam and dipped in glace icing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Washington Biscuit

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, beat the sugar, egg yolks, ground almonds, and rum until very light.

  2. Add the prepared corn and stir in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

  3. Gently mix in the flour.

  4. Fill small round biscuit tins that have been buttered with the mixture.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake until done.

  2. Once baked, spread each biscuit with apricot jam and dip in the glace icing flavored with curaçao.

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. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Almond + apricottop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Rum + apricottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together149 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  4. Corn + almondtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg whites are beaten to add lightness and help the biscuits rise and set in the oven.
Ground almonds
Add body, a tender crumb, and a nutty flavor to the biscuit.
Flour
Provides a small amount of structure so the batter holds its shape when baked.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the batter beat to a light, airy texture.
Oswego prepared corn
Contributes moisture and a distinct flavor and tenderness to the batter.

The step that matters

Folding in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Egg whites hold the air that lifts the batter. Mixing them in gently keeps that air from collapsing, so the biscuits bake light rather than dense.

Swap the apricot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, corn, egg, flour, almond, rum):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Apricotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, corn, egg, flour, almond, rum. 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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