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Dessert

Pulled-sugar Basket

A confection of almond-coated candy dough, date-filled rolls, and chocolate-coated sugar balls, cut into strips and wrapped in oil paper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,961 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Pulled-sugar Basket

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the candy dough

  1. Combine the egg white and water in a glass.

  2. Slowly mix in the icing sugar until it forms a dough-like consistency.

  3. Blanch the almonds.

  4. Coat the blanched almonds with the candy dough.

  5. Remove the stones from the fresh dates.

  6. Fill the dates with a roll of candy dough.

  7. Set the filled dates aside to stiffen.

Make the balls

  1. In a saucepan, boil the cream and granulated sugar for five minutes.

  2. Set the dish in cold water and stir until the mixture hardens enough to form balls.

  3. Flavor the balls with vanilla.

  4. Melt the chocolate.

  5. Dip the balls into the melted chocolate.

Make the chocolate mixture and finish

  1. In another saucepan, combine the chocolate, chocolate syrup, and vanilla, and heat until melted.

  2. Add the rich cream and granulated sugar, bringing it to a boil while stirring constantly until it forms a large ball, about ten minutes.

  3. Pour the mixture into oiled pans or onto a marble slab to cool.

  4. Cut the cooled mixture into long strips.

  5. Cut the strips into inch squares.

  6. Wrap each square in oil paper.

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. Almond + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Vanilla + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Almond + datestop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together217 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Dates + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together218 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Icing sugar
Forms the pliable candy dough that coats the almonds and fills the dates.
Egg white
Binds the icing sugar into a dough with structure and a smooth texture.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens and, when boiled, sets into a firm mass that holds its shape.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, giving the boiled sugar a softer, creamier texture.
Chocolate
Forms a crisp coating on the balls and adds fat for a smooth finish.

The step that matters

Stirring the boiled cream and sugar until it forms a large ball. Sugar syrup must reach the right concentration to set firm without turning grainy or brittle. Constant stirring prevents sugar crystals from forming unevenly, which would spoil the smooth texture.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, almond, cream, vanilla, chocolate, syrup):

  1. Coconutfits better
  2. Raspberryfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, almond, cream, vanilla, chocolate, syrup. 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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