Name: Cocoanut Creams
Ingredients: soft uncooked cream; fresh grated cocoanut to taste; confectioners' sugar; cochineal syrup (optional for coloring); grated chocolate (optional for coloring)

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cocoanut Creams

Ingredients

soft uncooked cream
fresh grated cocoanut to taste
confectioners' sugar
cochineal syrup (optional for coloring)
grated chocolate (optional for coloring)

Directions

Make the balls

Take the soft uncooked cream and add fresh grated coconut to taste.
Mix in enough confectioners' sugar to form balls.
Roll the balls in fresh grated coconut.

Color and shape

For color, add a few drops of cochineal syrup for pink or a few spoonfuls of grated chocolate for brown, then roll in grated coconut.
Alternatively, spread the cream into a flat cake and cut into squares or strips.

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.

Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,466 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,964 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + chocolatetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked 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

Soft uncooked cream: Forms the base of the confection, giving it a soft, rich body once sugared.
Fresh grated coconut: Adds moisture, mild sweetness and a chewy texture to the cream.
Confectioners' sugar: Sweetens the cream and stiffens it so it holds its shape as balls.

“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.