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 ↓
Almond Jumbles
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.
In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.
Make the batter
Beat the egg yolks and stir them into the butter and sugar mixture.
Add the pounded almonds and lemon extract, mixing well.
Gradually stir in half of the flour mixture.
Beat the egg whites with 1 teaspoon of sugar until stiff, then fold into the batter.
Add the remaining flour and mix until just combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into well-buttered muffin pans.
Bake until light brown.
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.
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Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,673 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Butter + almondtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Eggs
- Whites whipped to stiff peaks lift the batter, while yolks add richness and binding.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar to trap air and give a tender, rich crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the jumbles together as they bake.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and helps create a tender texture and browning.
- Blanched almonds
- Add moisture, nutty flavor and a tender, slightly dense texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the jumbles rise in the oven.
The step that matters
Adding the remaining flour. Once the flour is in, overmixing develops gluten and makes the jumbles tough. Mix only until just combined to keep the crumb tender and the folded egg whites airy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, almond, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, almond, egg. 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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